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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563482">One Shutter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvia_Mattel/pseuds/Silvia_Mattel'>Silvia_Mattel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Debate Team, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Bisexual Male Character, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, M/M, Minor Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso, Not Beta Read, Pining, Teenage Drama</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:01:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,462</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvia_Mattel/pseuds/Silvia_Mattel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rose Tico's future career as a lawyer is challenged by the most impossible romance to ever exist, she decides to take the unlikely decision of teaming up with Armitage Hux, the most violent debater in all of Theed, in order to break up a love that never should have been.</p><p>In the midst of her morally grey mission, her contradictory partner in crime, her senioritis and her latest heartbreak Rose must learn  lesson in empathy and determination to find what's most unexpected to find outside of her comfort zone.</p><p>On the other side of the coin, Armitage will find himself in a difficult moment in life, in which he ought to decide between the life choices that are expected from him and the future that he longs to attain.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Kaydel Ko Connix/Phasma, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Ways of Dictation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If Rose was honest with herself, debating wasn’t her trade.</p><p>She had never been a people’s person, had always preferred to be in the background, where she was invisible but safe, and the prospect of arguing about anything made her flinch.</p><p>In that very moment she was hidden at the backstage of their small Local Debate Competition, but she knew that if she had been the one that had to be on the stage in front of the barely thirty members of the audience she'd be freaking out, too.</p><p>Rose wasn't made for debating, but Rose wasn't honest with herself either.</p><p>To debate was to be fast, witty, fierce and machiavellian to an extent, and she <em> knew </em> none of those traits were hers, but she tried to develop them. That had gotten her to where she was, which wasn’t much, for being a senior and the substitute member for the debate team wasn't a big feat. But it was something, she kept telling herself, and she pretended that she believed it.</p><p>She has always loved debate, though, ever since she had seen her sister win one in her Middle School tournament. She might have been nine at the time, but when she took in the image of her sister, barely a teenager but headstrong as the most driven of adults, she knew she wanted to grow up to be like her.</p><p>And she was still in that track, mostly. Sometimes, after hours of losing debates for being too soft on her adversaries, she’d lose hope, but then she envisioned Paige with her awards and prideful look and she regained it.</p><p>And yes, maybe at times she was jealous of her sister, but her love for her overpowered any kind of negative feeling towards her. Unfortunately that was not the case for Rey Andor-Erso.</p><p>Rose hated the same way that she debated, quietly, and to her despair she found herself hating Rey, the head of their debate team and the most perfect and popular girl in their High School to boot.</p><p>Rey, whose debating style was aggressive but calculated.</p><p>Rey, who was beautiful without trying. Rey, who was best friends with the boy she had loved for ages. Rey, who was dubbed as the rightful successor of her sister’s debate team.</p><p>Rey, who for some reason was being extremely soft spoken in their Local Debate Competition.</p><p>That wasn’t unheard of, but Rose couldn’t really understand how that tone matched with their ruthless strategy to win against the First Order Institute debate team. Her voice was like silk, with no passive-aggressiveness underneath, and from where she was standing she could see their adversaries' reactions to it.</p><p>Phasma looked like she was trying to contain a baffled expression, unsuccessfully, Mitaka wasn’t even trying to hide his surprise and Ben Solo looked stoic as ever, although his chest was more puffed out than usual, Rose noted with a subtle grin to herself. But the latter’s expression changed when Rey finished her introductory intervention, his face muscles softening, his eyes slightly widening, as in awe, and his lips twitching up in a <em> smile. </em></p><p>Rose didn’t know Ben Solo, not at all, but she after years standing in the backstage she knew what his debating style was like, and smiling wasn’t something that he ever did.</p><p>Rose felt anxious because of the uncertainty of the scene playing out in front of her, but her heart rate came back to normal when Ben Solo started speaking, sounding as severe as he always did. <em> Like a brat with a deep baritone </em>, she thought herself, in an attempt to make herself feel better, safer.</p><p>They needed to win, they really did. This was a classificatory competition, for sure, but if they wanted to get into the Regional final they had to win. They had ended in tabs with Kashyyyk High School and the other team had already won against the Ewok High School, thus qualifying themselves for the Regional Debate Competition of Naboo.</p><p>It was a zero-sum game, really, if her team won they’d go to the Regionals, and the other team would only lose a little bit of their neverending pride. So they had to win, and with Finn’s brilliant data, Poe’s shrewdness and Rey’s fire they would.</p><p>Unless Rey’s fire was extinct for some godforsaken reason, of course.</p><p>“Miss Andor-Erso, you have the word for the reply speech.” Said the moderator, looking at Rey expectantly, and Rose couldn’t see her face, but she knew she must have looked dazed, because the same look had dawned upon Solo’s expression at the mention of her name.</p><p>“Ehm… Yes, well, as it has been said before by… Eh… This team? The position we as a country, as a State, the position we must decide on… Um… Universal Healthcare, yes, Universal Healthcare must be done by, ehm, policies, on its favor, and…”, Rose felt dizzy, seeing how in her application letters she’d had to write about how her debate team, her only extracurricular, hadn’t even gotten to the Regional Debate Session of Naboo. Seeing the rejection letters from all colleges arrive at her door. Seeing how she would have to work in her family restaurant forever, how she’d never become a lawyer, like her sister. Seeing how her academic future was cut short by <em> Rey Andor-Erso </em> having a crush on none other than <em> Ben Solo </em>.</p><p>She was spiraling, feeling her anxiety rise to levels she had never felt before, and she started to not feel her lips, then her feet and in a matter of seconds she didn’t feel a thing, falling to the ground with a loud thud, interrupting Rey’s intervention.</p><p>Everyone was alarmed, not knowing why there was an unconscious girl on the left end of the stage, and the moderator swiftly called off the competition, taking his phone out to call an ambulance.</p><p>The last thing Rose barely remembered was Finn calling her name, asking her if she was ok, and the feeling of being carried by thin but strong arms.</p><p> </p><p>⚘⚘⚘</p><p> </p><p>When Rose regained her conscience she was on the outside of her High School, feeling dizzy and laying on a stretcher, with a mask on her face, Miss Holdo on her right and Finn on her left, looking equally concerned.</p><p>“What happened?” She asked, her voice raspy, and she scrunched her eyes shut, feeling as if the world was somehow brighter than it had been two hours before just to piss her off.</p><p>“You fainted.” Said the purple-haired woman with the gentle tone she usually reserved for distressed freshmans, which made Rose feel even worse.</p><p>“Ah.” She eloquently answered, which seemed to be the funniest thing on the planet for Finn, because he broke into one of his characteristic amused smiles, which made Rose feel a little bit better. “How did the competition go?” She sounded muffled under the mask, but Miss Holdo seemed to understand perfectly her question, if her grave frown was something to get by.</p><p>“It has been cancelled.” Another voice said, and the speaker, Rey came close to Rose, looking at her with concern and a hint of gratefulness in her eyes. <em> Whatever </em> , Rose thought, <em> it’s not as if I fainted for her to have a second chance </em>. But then she remembered that she had fainted because of her, and she felt worse than ever.</p><p>Rey was not a bad person, she would even call her a friend. A friend of whom she was very jealous of, but a friend nonetheless, and Rose should have known better than to faint as a response to seeing Rey getting too lost in looking at the boy she liked to listen to the debate that was unfolding. She’d been there too.</p><p>And then the context of her fainting hit her like a truck, and the intrusive thoughts rained on her once again. </p><p>She had to separate Rey and Ben, she needed to do so. Urgently. It was only a High School fling, and if breaking it up was the key to her having a chance of getting into a scholarship for a moderately good college then so be it.</p><p>Rose realized that Poe had also gotten into her line of vision, and she smiled slightly at him. He had always been the cunning mind behind their team’s strategies, which sometimes resulted in him and their teacher, Miss Holdo, fighting. But maybe that cunningness could help her, too. </p><p>She knew that Poe needed for the team to get to the Regionals, too. That he needed a good résumé to get a full scholarship, too. But then he smiled back at her, lowering himself by leaning into Finn’s side, absent-mindedly taking his hand, and she knew he wouldn’t help her.</p><p>It was when she discarded Poe as a possible ally that she wondered about the morality of her scheming. It was clear that Rey felt something for Ben Solo, something strong enough to take her out of her usual confident self and make her some kind of lovestruck, nervous girl.</p><p><em> And the team already has one of those </em>, she thought, feeling so bad she might even puke. The mask was helping her breathe, though, and the bile in her larynx went down while she pondered the next thing she was going to ask.</p><p>“Will they repeat the session?” Which was met with an immediate nod from everybody, to her utter relief. “Is it being rescheduled?” She asked again, hopefully.</p><p>“Yes, of course.” Finn answered, looking at her in a concerned manner, to which she slowly blinked, turning around to Rey, who was completing his answer.</p><p>“It’ll be held next month, they couldn’t do it any sooner.” She finished the sentence as she drifted off a little, slightly turning to her right, and Rose didn’t have to sit down to see that she was staring at the First Order Institute team.</p><p>She decided that she must be fast, because no matter how much better than her Rey was, she knew that heartbreak would hurt her the same as it had hurted herself.</p><p>Finally a paramedic came over to her, asking her teachers and teammates to give him space, and the next minutes consisted of her leading her through some breathing exercises, removing her mask and assuring her that someone would come soon to pick her up.</p><p>She nodded and thanked her, feeling much better. She finally stood up, being shortly after engulfed by a group hug from her friends.</p><p>She felt bad for what she was planning to do, she really did, but she knew that if she didn’t do anything her future would be truncated by a couple that surely would split on their first week of college.</p><p>“Hey guys, do you wanna go to The Cantina? I can ride us all there. You too prof.” Said Poe, finishing with a wink towards Miss Holdo, who laughed softly at his fake flirting.</p><p>“I will have to decline such a chivalrous proposition, Mr. Dameron, but thank you very much for the offer.” Answered the older woman, her eyes glinting with amusement.</p><p>“Yes, yes, the faculty not hanging out with students rule,” their teacher was about to correct him on the proper name of said rule, but closed her mouth and decided to roll her eyes over it, which made Rose grin, “lame as hell, if you ask me.”</p><p>“Mr. Dameron rules are not supposed to be <em> entertaining </em>.” Miss Holdo decided to interject, her gentle tone hinting towards mild mockery, which naturally made Poe erupt in laughter. The teacher interpreted that as her cue to leave, waving goodbye to them as she walked towards her car.</p><p>“If it makes it any better, I’ll go.” Finn spoke as he looked at Poe with a fond demeanor he reserved only for him, which broke Rose’s heart a little, but not as much as it used to.</p><p>“I think that…” Started Rey, sounding doubititous. “I think that I’ll wait for Cassian to pick me up, sorry guys.” She said, bashfully turning her body to her right, again, and Rose looked at Ben Solo, who was standing in that very direction, looking at Rey distractedly while Phasma talked to him, Mitaka and Hux as if she were a drill sergeant.</p><p>She was about to go back to Poe to tell him she definitely wanted to go with them when she realized a pair of green eyes on her, and to her utmost surprise she got into what appeared to be a staring contest with Hux. His eyes were filled with raw rage, as always, for he was maybe the most aggressive debater she had ever witnessed, always yelling and gesticulating like a twenty first century Hitler, but she saw someone else in his body language. She saw some sort of terrible and refreshing camaraderie in how he subtly pointed at Ben and then at Rey with his irises, and she felt how he looked at her, pointedly, as if asking her for an answer. And she understood the question and, despite of herself, realized that her answer to it was the same as his.</p><p>“I have to wait for my parents, too.” She lied, looking back at Poe, who luckily for her was too lost in hugging Finn with one arm as he muttered sweet nothings to him to notice the little exchange between her and none other than Hux.</p><p>“Oh but Rosie!” Exclaimed Poe, as he moved away from his boyfriend to touch her on the shoulder. “I can drive you home, really, and maybe hanging out will help you feel better.” Oh, but she knew that third wheeling would only make her feel like garbage. And she had to talk with someone, apparently.</p><p>“Poe, I’m sorry, really, but after all this fainting and stress I just want to go home.” She wanted to convince him, and that appeared to do the trick.</p><p>“Man, that’s alright Rosie, makes a lot of sense actually.” He started, taking her by her shoulders into his chest and hugging her like a teddy bear. “And don’t apologize, Rosie, you have done nothing wrong.” He finished as he patted her back.</p><p>She laughed lightly on his chest, basking in his friendly hug. Pulling away, she smiled at him and then at Finn, feeling happy for having her as their friends.</p><p>“You’re so nice when you want to be, Dameron.” Rey suddenly said, piquing their interest. “Finn must be training you so well.” She said, finishing the sentence with a yelp as she was tackled by both Finn and Poe, who started to ask her to take it back as they got into a friendly wrestle. Rose loved them, she really did. But she also loved the future that she had planned for herself, so much it ached.</p><p>“Well, I’m going inside guys, to freshen up a bit.” Rose said it loudly enough for the three wrestling friends to hear, and she was answered with a grunting sound that she knew meant ‘alright’. She smiled at them before turning around to face Hux again, who was looking at her too, still waiting for an answer. She pointed with a little tilt of her head towards the building and he understood.</p><p><em> Damn </em> , she mused to herself as she walked into her High School, <em> am I really going to team up with Hux to separate two people? Do I care that much about getting a scholarship? </em> Those were rhetorical questions, and she wished they weren’t. But when she pictured herself working at his parent’s restaurant for the rest of her life he felt fear, and only fear could fuel her to do things she thought she’d never do. <em> Right? </em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so,,,,, I may or may not have other WIPs but I couldn't help myself.</p><p>This whole AU is so much fun though, the world building is just giving me life and what can I say? I'm gingerose trash.</p><p>I hope that you're liking this and that you for reading!!<br/>Kudos and comments are SUPER appreaciated so maybe leave one ;)))</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. To Connive for a Cause</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If anyone had told Armitage Hux that he’d be going into Padmé Amidala High School one Saturday morning to speak with Rose Tico he would have cursed them, harshly, after mocking them for god knows how long. But in that moment it felt like the most natural thing to do.</p><p>She didn’t have a mean bone in her body, of that he was sure, but out of desperation people did bad things, horrible things even. And maybe Hux was heartless, but he knew that what he wanted to do was objectively bad. </p><p>And, as always, that didn’t stop him at all.</p><p>He didn’t consider himself a bad person, he actually considered himself quite a great individual, and as he tried to find that damned Tico in the empty hallways he pondered that if even that spineless girl was willing to do that, it mustn’t be so bad.</p><p>But he was spineless too, or so his father told him. Except that not as spineless as her, he thought. He wasn’t like her in any kind of way. They just shared a goal. Or at least they appeared to share a goal.</p><p>He entered another hallway, starting to feel restless, and for once he was glad that his teammates wouldn’t notice how long he was taking to go to the loo. Knowing them, they had already fled to their homes to study for next week’s calculus test.</p><p>Something was on his way while he all but sprinted inside of the next hallway, all but lost in his thoughts. When that something yelped, though, Hux realized that what he had stumbled upon wasn't something, it was someone. The someone he was looking for, precisely.</p><p>Tico looked up at him, angrily, which made her appear as threatening as an angry kitten, and Armitage waited for her to speak.</p><p>“I was helping a spider, you asshole.” Now that was not what he expected, and instead of paling at the mention of a spider being nearby, he decided to keep his composure as overweening as always, only raising an eyebrow, asking her to elaborate. “She looked lost, and you were taking so long…” She trailed off, realizing how defiant she had sounded earlier, and she looked down to her knees, both to look for the lost spider and because she was feeling a little bit ashamed at her rude response to Hux.</p><p>“It’s not my fault this place is labyrinthic.” Justified Hux, feeling that it had been a personal offense and not an offhand comment.</p><p>“Sure.” She said, looking up again, and he could see in her countenance that she wanted to say a thousand of things but didn’t know where to start. So he started.</p><p>“Solo and your golden girl are shagging.” He said matter of factly, and Rose’s answer was a flat look towards him as she stood up. He acknowledged how he was one head taller than her, at least, and for some obscure reason he felt a twinge of pride because of it. <em>You don’t deserve to feel pride</em>, a voice inside of him whispered, <em>not from something you inherited from your whore of a mother</em>. </p><p>“What do we do with that information.” She interrupted his musings with that deadpanned question, that felt more like an introduction to what they were about to plan.</p><p>“We must separate them, of course.” He said, and her look of absolute amazement almost made him smile. Almost.</p><p>“We’re on the same page about this, I genuinely didn’t expect that.” For that he gave her a look of incredulity mixed with suspiciousness, trying to remind her how they had arranged this meeting minutes prior. “I mean, yeah, it looked like we were on the same page, but to be honest I thought you were going to mess with me or something.” She admitted, still looking at him with a face that conveyed unfiltered sincerity.</p><p>“Why in the world would I do that?” She opened her mouth but he interrupted her. “Don’t answer, I don’t care about your reasoning.” And at that comment she looked positively mad at him, which apparently was a lot worse than the angry kitten look from before. “I mean that we should get to the point.” He said, not fully meaning it, but appreciating the calmer look that Tico acquired after said sentence was spoken. <em>When she’s not being blank she can be extremely expressive. We need to work with that</em>, he noted to himself while he waited for her to speak.</p><p>“So we need to split them up.” She looked at him expectantly, and he answered with a nod. “Great,” she said, sounding disenchanted with herself for what she was about to say, “then we need to give them a new love interest.” While she spoke she looked at him, really looked at him, as if studying him, and when Hux realized what she was implying he blushed despite himself.</p><p>“I’m not going to, to seduce Andor.” Hux exclaimed, outraged.</p><p>“Andor-Erso, actually.” She corrected, casually, looking at him with an focused expression still on, looking him over as if she was going to tailor him a suit.</p><p>“I don’t care what her surname is, Tico.” He answered with an exasperated tone, and then he looked at her, his face smug about how irrefutable his next argument was going to be. “Say, would you seduce Solo?”</p><p>“I mean, it’s not like that’s even possible.” Answered Rose immediately after he finished his sentence, as if she couldn’t even bother to think anything else than that automatic response. Hux looked at her, subtly inspecting her general appearance, and although she was objectively quite attractive she was no Rey, so she was right.</p><p>In Armitage’s opinion Solo wasn’t that deep, so how could he be interested in Andor for a reason other than the fact that she looked like some magazine model? Once again he had been outwitted by Tico, and he was starting to feel frustrated about it.</p><p>“Well, that plan must be discarded, then.” He answered resolutely, albeit frustrated for having to come back at the brainstorming step of their plan.</p><p>“Wait, maybe we could still follow that line of thought!” She said excitedly, looking as if an actual light bulb had lit up in her brain. Hux looked at her suspiciously. “Don’t look at me like that, I just had a genius idea!” She stated, appearing more confident than he had ever seen her.</p><p>“Then enlighten me, because you sound maniatical.” His reproach was half hearted, though, because he was actually intrigued by her next suggestion.</p><p>“Why thank you.” She said, imitating his british accent and failing miserably, which caused Hux to feel great dismay. “You see, there’s this boy in Amidala High that…”, she was interrupted by the rumbling of her stomach, to which she blushed deeply. Feeling pity for her, Hux took one granola bar out of his backpack, offering it to her.</p><p>“Tico if you’re not a fish, stop acting like one.” A ghost of a smirk threatened to take over his face, but he fought it off, making his smile appear froggish and quite bizarre.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Rose asked, referring to his weird expression.</p><p>“I’m sitting down, only barbarians eat while standing up.” Was Hux’ answer, for when he heard the beginning of her query he started to lower himself down, getting away with not having to ruminate further about his unexpected gesture of comradeship.</p><p>“Okay…” She said, reluctantly, while she sat down crossed legged. When she was once again sitting on the corridor’s floors she noticed that she no longer had to look up to talk him face to face, which was great for her neck muscles. </p><p>She took another bite of the granola and then she stretched her neck until she heard a popping sound, marveling at Hux’s flinch and consequent look of disgust.</p><p>“What was that you were talking about?” She opened her mouth to explain herself, but before she made a sound Hux talked once again, sounding both surprised and bewildered “Don’t talk with your mouth full, my gosh, where were you raised at, woman?”</p><p>“In a stable.” She retorted, sarcastically, and it was then that Hux noticed once again how unabashed she was, in contrast to her dull way of speaking in the rare occasions she had to debate.</p><p>“It shows.” He said, and again a smirk threatened to make an appearance on his lips once again, his lips twitching upwards for a millisecond, not looking like his previous amphibia grimace, but like an amused human being.</p><p>He hoped she hadn't noticed, but by her raised eyebrows he could deduce that she had noticed, which mortified him.</p><p>“There’s this boy in Amidala High.” She started again, after finishing the little remains of the granola bar she had left. “He’s a little bit head over the heels for Rey.” That was certainly interesting, and he nodded at that, silently asking her for more information. “His name’s Temmin, Temmin Wexley.”</p><p>“Is she interested?” He asked, curious.</p><p>“She could be.” Answered Tico, cryptically. Hux’s curiosity turned into cynicism. He frowned at her, thinking that she was just playing with his expectations.</p><p>“Please elaborate.” He inquired with a deadpan tone, not expecting her to be serious at all at that point.</p><p>“He plays the guitar.” She explained, looking resolute, as if that explained anything.</p><p>“And?” He questioned again, starting to consider the idea of him being the one whose mind was being messed with.</p><p>“Well, he’s also a great painter, a little bit abstract for my taste, but still very talented.” She continued, looking like that completed perfectly what she had explained about that boy Wexley before.</p><p>“And?” He was starting to plan his escape, not being in the mood of lashing out to some girl who considered that she was playing the funniest prank ever on him.</p><p>“What do you mean ‘and’? Artistic guys are super attractive.” She said, and Hux’s mindset about what she was insinuating changed drastically, finally putting the puzzle pieces that had been intended for her message together. Still, it was a personal preference, for he didn't really feel attracted by artsy individuals.</p><p>“Tico, if you have a preference that doesn’t mean…” He started, but she talked over him, surprising him for the millionth time that morning.</p><p>“But it’s a fact!” She exclaimed, and if it hadn’t been for how important the task they were discussing was for him, he would have screamed back at her.</p><p>“And how, oh wise one, do you know that it is a fact .” He hissed back, his gaze stony.</p><p>“Well, I mean, who doesn’t like a painting of themselves? Or a song written for them?” She countered, trying to sound calmer than before, and Hux decided to accept her silent peace offering. For the moment.</p><p>“Well I for one would despise it.” He commented, turning up his nose and scrunching it, as if he had smelt the most untasteful thing in existence.</p><p>“Sure…”, she looked at him suspiciously, not entirely believing in his words, but why would he care about what that girl thought of him? “Rey likes that, though, she likes tender gestures.” He raised one pointed eyebrow, and she answered his wordless annotation. “Yes, I know that doesn’t explain the whole Solo situation at all,” She looked thoughtful after that, adding, “maybe we’re reading it wrongly?” At that Hux raised both of his eyebrows, as if what she said that the sky was green, and Rose remembered the nightmare they had witnessed not an hour before. “Right, well, you know what they say, opposites attract.” She corrected herself, paling again at the memory of Rey Andor-Erso risking it all for an overgrown emo preteen.</p><p>“Then we are certainly a match made in heaven.” Hux commented, with a sligh venom in his tone. When he realized that, unlike in his head, it didn’t sound like the snarky remark he was going for, but akin to something very different, he blushed, lowering his head, not noticing the girl’s stunned expression.</p><p>“Ok, then we have a plan.” She finally said, breaking the long and uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them. “I’ll set Temmin up with Rey and you’ll make sure that Solo doesn’t throw a tantrum over it.” And at that Hux nodded. Solo’s tantrums he could manage.</p><p>“It’s settled, then.” He concluded, attempting to stand up, being stopped by what she said next.</p><p>“No.” She said, fastly, and Hux stopped on his tracks, confused. “I… I have two conditions.” She stated, her voice making it clear that it was not negotiable, and looking at Hux straight into his eyes, making him gulp.</p><p>“Spit them out, then.” He sighed, trying to sound more assertive than he felt like, finding the closest wall and leaning his back on it, trying to support himself on something. He turned back to look at her as she spoke again.</p><p>“Firstly, you need to tell me why you want to separate them.” She said, looking as severe as before, and Hux felt how his cheeks and neck were heating up once again. Embarrassed, he looked at the other way, not wanting her to notice.</p><p>“You first.” He prompted her.</p><p>“College related.” She answered, not willing to say more to someone who wouldn’t even look at her when they were talking to each other.</p><p>“Same motive.” He said, curtly.</p><p>“I need Rey to do her best so we get to the Regional Competition at least, because if not my possibilities of getting a full scholarship are going to be null.” She completed her answer, expecting the same from him, and he turned his head around, understanding the quid pro quo and silently agreeing on it.</p><p>“Same motive.” Although that wasn’t as good of an answer as Tico’s had been. It was accurate, and Hux felt like he had done well.</p><p>“Your family's rich, why would you even need a scholarship?” Tico, on the other hand, didn’t feel satisfied with that answer, so he tried to articulate a good enough explanation for his motives.</p><p>“Well, I need Solo to do his best so we get to the Regional Competition at the very least. If not my possibilities of getting into Coruscant are going to be null.” He said, and although he had almost mirrored hers, the one thing that had changed in the sentence piqued Rose’s attention.</p><p>“Coruscant?” She sounded genuinely surprised at that, to Armitage’s annoyance, which she seemed to notice, deciding to try to fix it. “I thought everyone that went to FOI ended up in Exegol.”</p><p>“Well, that’s where my father wants me to study at,” he started, cautiously, not knowing if he should tell her what inspired him to not go to Exegol. He decided to tell her a half truth, instead, not willing to risk his perfectly planned out strategy for some high school fellowship, “but Coruscant is clearly superior.”</p><p>“What about KIT? From one institute to another.” She chuckled at herself, at which Hux's only reaction was to acquire a deadpan expression at her dire sense of humor. “Ok, ok, not funny, I guess.” He nodded abstently at that, which made her chuckle again.</p><p>“What’s the second condition?” He asked, wanting her to stop laughing so merrily.</p><p>“Oh yeah…” She realized that she was yet to say it, and to Hux’s surprise it was her turn to blush. “I need your phone number.” She said, looking at him timidly.</p><p>“If this is some kind of joke…” He started speaking, his voice expressing that she would regret if she was doing that as some kind of prank.</p><p>“I’m being serious! How are we going to update each other on our progress? Telepathy?” He wasn’t convinced, and she could see it, so she tried to go for a less risky channel of communication. “If you want to maybe you could give me your instagram instead? It’s less personal and all.” At that Hux seemed less wary, and Rose already took out her phone, knowing she had won that battle.</p><p>“... Ok.” He said, and Rose smiled, triumphant. “I’ll give you my number.” At that she looked surprised, but her smile didn’t falter, because that little gesture proved one thing: that he was as adamant about their goal as she was. “But don’t share it with anybody.”</p><p>“Of course not, as long as you promise to not share mine either.” He nodded, and Rose believed him. “Ok then.”</p><p>“Should I write it down, or?” He asked, staring at the phone on her hands.</p><p>“Don’t be silly, give me a second.” She unlocked her phone, opening her contacts list. “Here, put your number where it says ‘number’.” she explained, only half mockingly.</p><p>“I am not an idiot, Tico, I know how to create a contact.” She doubted him, but she didn’t comment on it, deciding to favor the new association they had just forged. “Don’t save me with my real name, though.” He gave Tico her phone back as he said it, with the contact name still empty.</p><p>“Well, it’s your name, isn’t it? Your surname, at least.” She said as she started to write down ‘Hux’ on the name box.</p><p>“Yes, but if someone sees a notification that reads ‘message from Hux’? It would be awkward to explain, wouldn’t it?” He asked, and Rose realized that, for the second time in one day, she agreed with Armitage Hux on something, which made her question her morality once again.</p><p>“You’re right.” She said.</p><p>“I’m always right.” He commented, sounding overconfident. </p><p>“Oh, shut it.” She shot back, deciding on the worst name she could imagine for his contact.</p><p>“Here, put your number and your pseudonym.” He ordered more than said as he offered her his phone.</p><p>“Ok, one sec.” She said back and she snatched the phone from his grasp rather forcefully, starting him. After she typed everything in she gave it back, looking mildly amused.</p><p>“Auntie Anne? Why?” he asked, taken aback by such a random name.</p><p>“Every white person has an aunt named Anne.” She said, once again stating facts that were far from true with a security that would make many politicians jealous.</p><p>“I don’t have any extended family.” He told her, sounding bitter.</p><p>“Well, do any of your friends know that?” She asked, already knowing the answer, which irked him to no end.</p><p>“... No.” He gritted out, frustrated at being outwitted twice by none other than Tico in less than an hour.</p><p>“Then it’s alright, isn’t it? No one will know it's fake, so it'll work well enough.” Her eyes glinted with exultation, and Hux had to force himself to stop looking at her.</p><p>“You’re right.” He said, using standing up as an excuse to look down, making his remark harder to hear, but still audible enough for her to be able answer to it.</p><p>“I’m always right.” She said, mocking his tone, as she stood up too, dusting off her suit pants. “Well, it has been a great chat, but I should head home.” She said, trying to sound gleeful.</p><p>“Understandably so.” he agreed, making Tico look mortified for a second, to which he didn’t know what to say, so he opted for some safe small talk. “Is Dameron giving you a ride?” He asked, moments after, trying to fill their walk back towards the High School's entrance.</p><p>“No way, right now he must be making out with Finn at The Cantina. I’m walking.” She answered, to Hux’s absolute surprise.</p><p>“But you just fainted.” He almost exclaimed, as if reprimanding someone. If that someone was Poe, her or both she wasn’t certain of.</p><p>“That I did.” She said, rolling her eyes at the reminder.</p><p>“You faked it?” Hux asked in a bewildered yet agog tone, interpreting her indifference in a completely different manner.</p><p>“No, god, I wish.” She smiled tightly, and against his better judgement, Hux was concerned. Not very, mind you, but concerned nonetheless.</p><p>“Then why are you walking home? Do you live nearby?” But that was impossible, he had heard his father talk about a restaurant, Tico’s little Sebris, and other than Brendol's never ending disdain regarding said place, he knew that it was on the historical part of Theed, far from Padmé Amidala High School’s residential area.</p><p>“It’ll be just one hour, so it’ll make for a nice morning trek.” She commented, trying to walk faster at that to both sound more convincing and catch up to Hux’s pace.</p><p>“Not when one has fainted mere minutes ago.” He remarked, his concern growing just slightly.</p><p>“An hour ago, actually.” She said, checking the hour on her phone. He turned at her with a raised eyebrow, as if asking her if she really thought that saying that would help her case.</p><p>“Oh that changes everything.” He said, sarcastically, his eyebrow still raised and looking as unamused as ever.</p><p>“I mean, I’m not refusing a ride.” She commented, tilting her head at him, and if he didn’t know better he would have believed that she was… He took it as a taunting comment, though, and he frowned.</p><p>“I haven’t offered it.” He answered, swiftly turning to look at whatever was in front of him, which to his surprise was the entrance of the High School.</p><p>“Haven’t you?” She asked, boldly, and when he stared back at her he could only see defiance in her stance. Armitage had many faults, and one of them was the inability to back down any challenge, and maybe that wasn’t a screaming match or a first fight, but it felt more of a provocation than any of those.</p><p>“As long as you don’t mind sitting in the backseat.” He retorted, his eyes narrowed.</p><p>“As long as you don’t mind me falling asleep there.” She agreed on, her expression reminding him of how Millicent would look when she got away with getting an extra feeding.</p><p>“Then it’s settled.” She nodded. “Don’t take it as a favour.” She nodded once again.</p><p>“I won’t.” She answered, and although she sounded serious he could sense her walking with an extra confidence on her step.</p><p>“Good.” He answered, just as curtly, and mildly irritated at the situation he had gotten into.</p><p>He finally saw his car, parked close enough for him to be able to already unlock it with his keys. It was honestly his pride and joy, the most valuable possession he had, and as the seconds passed he double guessed more and more the decision of letting someone like Tico, who had proven to be more unruly than he had ever expected, into it. Before he could take anything back she already opened the passengers door, hopping in.</p><p>He looked into his reflection on the car’s driver’s window, reconsidering everything he had ever done wrong in his life and comparing it to driving Tico home, finally deciding that the situation could be worse.</p><p>And not only seconds later the situation proved to be way worse than all the bad deeds he had done previously.</p><p>“Gosh, do you really listen to that?” Rose exclaimed when Ace of Spades by Motörhead started sounding after a blissful couple of minutes of Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights and silence from her. The change has obviously startled her, but Hux wouldn’t laugh, not even if he was very inclined to do so. Instead he just straightened up, looking into the rearview mirror as he spoke with a condescending tone.</p><p>“Classical music and heavy metal are more alike than many people assume. Including you.” He could see how she put her fingers on the bridge of her nose, as if containing herself, and how she subsequently yawned, trying to keep her eyes open and failing, looking far too tired to argue. </p><p>And if after seeing that he yawned, too, he wouldn’t think much of it, trying to tell himself that it had been only because he had had a draining morning.</p><p>“Fine. Whatever.” She said, drily, while she took her headphones out of her backpack, plugging them in and putting them over her ears, laying her head on the glass window and finally falling asleep. </p><p>Hux was content with driving with no further distractions, and he relished the feeling for almost ten minutes, until he realized that he didn’t know where she lived. </p><p>“Tico. Tico.” He said, speaking loud enough for any normal being to wake up, but of course she didn’t. “Tico!” he finally screamed, and when that didn’t work either he turned up the volume of his car stereo to a maximum, which seemed to do the trick.</p><p>“What?” She answered, her voice groggy from sleep and sounding far too undisturbed for someone that had just been awakened by deafening metal music over whatever she was listening to on her earphones. She took them off, looking confused at her surroundings.</p><p>“Where do you live, Tico?” He asked, impatiently.</p><p>“Oh, for kriff’s sake.” She finally exclaimed, realizing that she would have to delay her nap. She started leading him on how to get to her house in what was maybe the most ineffective way ever registered, making them spend fifteen minutes minutes trying to get the right exit of a roundabout and forcing Rose to use her data to let Google Maps guide him, being too done with him to even muster one more scoff in his direction.</p><p>While Hux finally had a competent guide to tell him where to go he looked back at the rearview mirror, just for one second, and he was greeted by a furious Rose Tico, who was red in the face and staring holes into his seat. </p><p>It was in that moment, whilst he finally arrived at the entrance of a colorful looking restaurant, that he was certain of one thing: he had a bad feeling about his new cooperation.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>lmao this chapter was so fun to write. Literally High School AUs are just,,,,, so fun to write in general</p><p>btw I wanna make it clear that this is a random fic and my motivations for writing it rely quite greatly on my love for bad coming of age movie tropes and my deep frustration of not being able to fully experience my senior year, because I've been quarantined for like one third of it :(((</p><p>so anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 2 and thank you so much for reading!! </p><p>Please leave kudos and a comment and, most importantly, have a great day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Troublous Fons et Origo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All translations are in the end notes!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Rosie, when will we meet, your, eh, <em> friend </em>?” Asked Paige, sounding innocent but looking positively mischievous.</p><p>Rose blushed, finishing her green tea in a long swig, looking enraged at her sister. She took her bathrobe from her chair and ran upstairs to her room. At that Paige laughed, Hue smirked into his cup of tea and Thanya frowned.</p><p>“I guess that’s the best answer we’ll ever get from her.” Said Paige, smiling at her father, who matched the amused glint of her eyes.</p><p>“You shouldn’t torment your sister like that, Paige.” Her mother reprimanded her, and Paige pouted. “Don’t look at me like that, you come back for one week and you’re already picking fights, go apologize to your sister.” She told her sternly, to which her daughter rolled her eyes.</p><p>“But Ma, I just asked a very reasonable question!” Exclaimed Paige, sounding outraged for the accusations against her. “And don’t act like you don’t want to know about him, too.” her delivery changed at that, talking as if she were telling her the latest gossip.</p><p>“I already know what I need to know about him, Paige.” Countered Thanya, cryptically and just as severely as before.</p><p>“Well, great, but I don’t!” At that both her father and her mother shook their heads, one of them amused and the other dissatisfied. “I need to know that guy's intentions with our Rosie, what if he’s some rabid bastard?” She started to argue, but she swiftly stopped talking when her mother raised a finger, silently asking for her to stop.</p><p>“That boy’s not with Rosie.” She said with a certainty characteristic of her. “I’m not even sure that they’re even friends.” She commented, in a more hushed tone.</p><p>“He drove her home!” Paige protested, stuffing her mouth full of noodles.</p><p>“And he called her drooling devil!” Countered her mother, looking at her daughter eat eagerly with a tender expression, despite their current banter.</p><p>“Well that doesn’t prove anything, Ma! Vi used to call me Hammer and we got along just fine.” Paige said, after she finished engulfing her first taste of her father's pho. She ended her sentence with a wistful tone, looking down at her hands.</p><p>“That was a term of endearment.” The older woman stated. “You called her Six in return, too.” She smiled briefly at the memory of her eldest daughter and her friend. “But a drooling devil is something no friend says.” She concluded, looking at the woman sitting on the other side of the counter with what could only be defined as an ultimatum.</p><p>“But-”, Paige tried to retort it, ignoring the warning gaze her mother had shot him, and she was interrupted once more.</p><p>“No more discussing banalities, finish your breakfast and get ready to go grocery shopping.” And with that the conversation ended, to Paige’s despair.</p><p>“Don’t you have anything to say about this, Ba?” Pleaded more than asked Paige, looking for her last bastion against her mother’s opinion’s.</p><p>“Rosie didn’t eat her Pho, does anybody want it?” He asked in response to her daughter, to her utmost despair.</p><p>“Ba!” She exclaimed, while his wife answered cautiously softly. “No, <em> cục cưng</em>, all yours.”</p><p>“Thank you, <em> người yêu.</em>” He told her wife, his eyes filled with love, and then he proceeded to take the bowl his other daughter had abandoned on the kitchen table. “And <em> Xoài</em>?” He said, looking at his daughter.</p><p>“Yes?” She answered, hopefulness filling her voice.</p><p>“Act your age once in a while, yes?” He said, with a look that was both serious and teasing.</p><p>Paige looked at him with an scandalized expression which only grew when she heard her mother’s low chuckle at the comment.</p><p>“You two are unbelievable.” Was the last thing Paige said before leaving the room, coming across Rose when she was walking up the stairs.</p><p>“Have a good day at school, lovergirl!” She twirled her sister when she said that, making the other giggle despite herself.</p><p>“Shut up, you old hag.” Shot back her little sister, halfheartedly and looking a lot better than she had when she had stormed off minutes before.</p><p>“Love you too.” Chided Paige, watching her sister run down the stairs, skipping the last two steps and landing in a wobbly manner.</p><p>“<em>Mít</em>, the bus won’t be here for another fifteen minutes.” Commented her father, looking at the figure of her daughter rushing to the stairs on the other side of the kitchen that connected their house with the restaurant.</p><p>“I know, Ba, my friend’s picking me up!” Rose explained, loudly, looking as happy as any senior would be at the prospect of not having to take the bus.</p><p>That sentence piqued Paige’s attention, and she resolutely laid out her outfit for the day over her chair, running down the stairs immediately after to check if her suspicions were right all along.</p><p>Her parents were trying to hide their interest, but she knew that they hadn’t all moved to the windowsill for no particular reason, but for a very specific reason. Said <em> reason </em>came rolling down the street in the form of an all too familiar black Toyota, and Paige’s eyes widened.</p><p>When Rose waved at said car Paige felt a smile forming in her lips, and when Rose opened the co-pilot door and a glimpse of red hair could be seen from the Tico household she started to beam, not even hiding her shameless snooping through the window.</p><p>“Oh, <em> người yêu</em>, it looks like you lost this one debate.” Said Hue, meeting a defiant look from her wife and a gleeful one from his daughter. “But <em> Xoài</em>, remember that wars aren’t only won with victorious battles, you need honor within yourself to declare yourself a rightful champion.” Commented Hue with a pointed look at his daughter, asking her if she understood without saying a word, and Paige nodded.</p><p>“You old poet.” Said Thanya, her words harsh but her tone fond, and she got behind her husband, pushing his wheelchair back to the kitchen, and he only smiled at her.</p><p>“<em>Tôi có thể tự làm điều này, </em> <em> người yêu</em>.” Commented the man as he laid his hand over hers on the chair right handle.</p><p>“I know.” She stated back, to which her husband smiled.</p><p>“<em>Bướng bỉnh như mọi khi</em>...” He laughed tenderly, and Paige’s heart ached at them.</p><p>She was walking upstairs again, heading to her room once more, when the ache on her heart made her realize that she needed to make a call before she left Theed once again. She put on her clothing, took some money from the counter and fetched her keys in less than a minute, screaming that she was going to the grocery store on her way out, leaving two very skeptical parents at her wake.</p><p>“What are we going to do with these two, Hue…” Started his wife, her words gaining the vulnerability and self doubt that she only let her husband see.</p><p>“They are alright, can take care of themselves.” He said, trying to make her see that they were strong enough for facing the world, but not sounding reproachful at all of Thanya’s fears, which made a little grin fight it’s way into her face.</p><p>“I know, but they’re both so… So careless.” She let out, her grin fading as fast as it had appeared. Hue looked at her with sad eyes but trying to school his face into a teasing expression.</p><p>“<em>Họ đã học được đặc điểm đó từ những điều tốt nhất</em>.” He commented, playfully, and at that his wife shrieked with laughter, trying to look angry at him, which only made him laugh in return.</p><p>“You think you’re funny?” She asked, wiping tears out of her eyes while she breathed heavily, feeling lighter than before, and she looked at her <em> cục cưng </em>with a heart full of love and a life full of happiness synthesized in one intense gaze, which was returned.</p><p>“<em>Chúng tôi phải mở nhà hàng của chúng tôi, người yêu.</em>” Hue said, hating that he had to break the moment.</p><p>“<em>Vâng, vâng…</em>” She said, giving him a peck in the lips, pulling back before he tried to close his arms around her. “Not now, you rascal.” She said, teasingly, and she opened their back door, getting to the back of their local and finally getting inside of it, starting to take out the tools, ingredients and cutlery they would need for the day. </p><p>When their other cook arrived and most of the waiters looked decent under Madam Tico’s harsh scrutiny they opened their restaurant, shooting each other one last tender look before getting to work.</p><p>It wasn’t until hours later, when Hue was spraying some ginger over one of his dishes, that he wondered how her <em> Mít’s </em>ride had gone. And, somehow, when Thanya came to get said dish she looked at him in the eye, understanding him, and she smiled at him, reassuringly. Their little one was safe, was what they were trying to tell each other, but none of them quite believed it.</p><p> </p><p>⚘⚘⚘</p><p> </p><p>“You took too long.” She told Hux when she got inside of the car.</p><p>“And what made you think that you could get in the copilot’s seat?” He asked back, restraining himself from reproaching her lack of greeting, which was only fair, because he hadn’t woken up earlier than usual to be some ungrateful little minx's chauffeur.</p><p>“Well, your atrocious taste in music, for starters.” She answered, managing to still not answer the question.</p><p>“What does that have to do with anything.” He deadpanned, successfully hiding his surprise at her completely uncalled for snide comment.</p><p>“So you’re not denying it.” She affirmed with an argumentative ring to her voice.</p><p>“Denying what.” Then, he realized what she had done and once again Hux had to wonder how she could be so skilled at debating everywhere but in her debate team. “Ugh, stop twisting my words, woman!” He exclaimed, although not as violently as he usually sounded when he screamed. He blamed it on the weather.</p><p>“Hey, I’m just trying to step my debating game up!” She said, sounding amused, and at that Hux had no option other than rolling his eyes.</p><p>“Maybe if you debated like <em> this </em> more often your team wouldn’t treat you like room decor.” He shot back, a hint of anger lacing his attack.</p><p>“And maybe if you were less like <em> this </em> your team wouldn’t treat you like a tempest with anger issues.” She said without missing a beat, as if she had already planned that response. Hux couldn’t help his frown at not knowing what to answer to her, so he decided to go for a weak attack.</p><p>“Tempest? I’m impressed.” He tried to sound amused, but he only managed to convey the condescending tone he was aiming to imply.</p><p>“Oh, come on, you talk like that all the time, you stuck up little shit.” She started to complain, not knowing that those complaints were paving the path to Hux’s next provocation.</p><p>“No, Tico, well done, really. Now, do you want me to drop you off at Amidala or at the local spelling bee?” His supercilious delivery was even more pointed when mocking her in such a lazy manner. It wasn't his best response, yet he couldn't hide his smugness at how angry his copilot looked at his mockery.</p><p>“You’re insufferable.” She muffled, opening her phone thus trying to ignore him, but he wasn’t going to let that happen, not when he had the chance of annoying her further.</p><p>“Oh? Insufferable?” He asked once again, his voice sounding just as faux innocent and patronizing as it had been moments before. “Come on Tico, spell insufferable.” It wasn’t his best retort, he knew, it was way too passive and too little agressive for it to be half as good as what he could manage, but for some reason he felt really proud of it anyways.</p><p>“H - U - X.” She spelled, and Hux had half a mind to restrain a laughter at that, although he looked as red as his hair thanks to said effort.</p><p>“Now that wasn’t that bad, Tico.” He told her, not even hiding that it wasn’t truly a lie, and then he realized who he was talking to. It wasn’t Paige Tico or Rey Andor-Erso, it was Rose Tico, the nervous girl from Amidala High who would tremble on stage, who would faint out of mere stress, who couldn’t even hurt a spider, and a doubt took over his mind. “Are you sure you want to do this?”</p><p>“What? Why?” She was not pleased at his inquiry, but he wasn’t going to take it back, for it was a genuine question.</p><p>“You know, instead of this we could just make their relationship public, they’d be shunned.” He explained, wondering if she had even thought of that plan too.</p><p>“Maybe your preteen locked inside of a giant would be hated, but Rey’s like a goddess, she’d just still be Head of the Debate Team and sad as hell.” Despite of himself he knew that Tico was right, Rey’s popularity in Amidala High was something to behold. “When you’re sad as hell you don’t debate well.” And, unfortunately for him, Tico had outwitted him once more.</p><p>“So you have already thought about doing that?” He tried, changing the course of the conversation, and with a fast look to his right he saw her staring at him, wide eyed.</p><p>“You too?” She sounded hopeful, as if sharing a thought with Armitage Hux would prove to better one’s moral compass.</p><p>“That’s not an answer, Tico.” He told her, curtly.</p><p>“Well, that’s too bad.” She replied, just as biting.</p><p>A heavy silence fell upon them, the only sound in the car being the haunting melody that came from the car’s stereo, which sounded like a fly making its way around them, and that  seemed to irk Tico to no end, which made Hux feel quite invigorated.</p><p>“So what’s this week’s plan?” He asked when he stopped in a traffic light, suddenly remembering the whole purpose of him riding her to school wasn't to get into a bickering match.</p><p>“I’ll tell you if you let me change the music.” She answered a moment after, sounding decided on that matter.</p><p>“Is it because of De Falla? Or Black Sabbath?” He joked, trying to rile her up because if he didn’t get a plan out of that car ride, he could at least get some entertainment.</p><p>She stayed silent, and after a couple of minutes of Vivaldi’s winter Hux decided to throw her a bone by reluctantly letting her plug in her phone and being greeted with an all too happy pop-rock song from the 2010s. “Well, first I’m introducing Rey to Tenmin, and then I’ll talk with him about how cute she is.” She explained to him, appearing to have rehearsed that one sentence many times before, and upon that realization Hux twitched upwards for a fraction of a second.</p><p>“How does that even work?” He didn’t have to look at her to know she had beamed at the prospect of answering that question, and to his complete dismay the twitching motion reappeared on the corner of his mouth.</p><p>“Well, people trust me easily, and sometimes when you hear someone say something you’re more prone to believe it.” She said every word gleefully, which contrasted starkly with the sterile way with which she was referring to the art of manipulation. “Even more so if you’re the one saying it.” She finished, sounding more cunning than what Hux would have ever expected of her.</p><p>“Doesn’t sound scientifically proved, but fair enough.” He uttered out, mildly annoyed by both the constant surprises that came from the girl who was sitting next to him and the excessive autotune of the song that was playing in the background.</p><p>“Fair enough is my motto.” When she saw that her attempt at a joke wasn’t met with any kind of reaction she frowned, but she kept on talking. “You have to keep Ben from texting.” She stated, as resolutely as if she were giving him directions to her High School.</p><p>“And how am I supposed to do that?” He asked, demanding a plan of action at the very least.</p><p>“Well, maybe you could remind him of your oncoming tests more often?” He turned his whole head at her at that, giving her an unimpressed look and then turning back to look at the road. “Seems like something you’d do, and it’ll make him concentrate more on the tests than the texts.” Although it was a terrible wordplay it did amuse him a bit, but he didn’t show any reaction, keeping his face stern when he spoke again.</p><p>“He’s not that focused on his studies, though.” He contradicted her, with a little bit of hatred growing in his demeanour. It wasn't fair, he thought to himself, that someone so privileged from birth to grave was also privileged in the intelligence department.</p><p>“Well, maybe you should just get a teacher to find his phone? You know, maybe you can call him in the middle of class or something.” She proposed while he shook his head already because Hux was many things, but he wasn’t suicidal. Not yet, at least.</p><p>“How am I going to do that, pray say, without him noticing it’s a plot against him?” He asked scornfully, and he was could feel more than see her furious appearance at his intervention</p><p>“Use the withheld number code, you dumbass.” She snapped at him, skipping the joyful song they were listening to in favour of a bolder and more rhythmic one, which seemed to capture pretty well the hostile atmosphere that was building up inside of his car.</p><p>“The what?” He asked, genuinely not knowing what she was referring to.</p><p>“Really, what do you guys even learn at private schools.” She muttered to herself, sounding more vexed by the second. “I’ll send you instructions on how to do it, don’t freak.” She said, speaking the two last words as a warning.</p><p>“I’m not freaking out!” He exclaimed, showcasing that he was in fact freaking out.</p><p>“You’re speeding, Hux, way too much for a residential area.” She noted, her voice going from fiery to icy in a matter of seconds.</p><p>“You know, I’ve done worse things.” He said, trying to make his speeding appear as something calculated.</p><p>“I’m sure of it Hux.” And she didn’t sound mocking, she actually sounded quite weary, and Hux didn’t know how to interpret it.</p><p>“Who is this?” He asked when a new song started, which sounded both optimistic and dejected, and whose singer had a low and melodic voice that made the song stratospherically better.</p><p>“Who?” Rose sounded confused and she swiftly turned her rapt eyes to her window, looking for someone, but the sidewalk was empty.</p><p>“The one singing, who else would I be referring to?” He asked in a self-evident kind of way, and because of that she looked up to the car’s ceiling, exasperated. </p><p>“Hozier.” She mumbled out, looking back at her phone as if the album’s photo would give her the patience necessary to handle Hux.</p><p>“It sounds like a fake name.” He remarked, and at that Rose made a tsking sound with her mouth.</p><p>“In contrast with the hyperrealist Black Sabbath.” At that Hux felt some hotness rise to his cheeks because once again Tico had a point and once again he had been the one to facilitate it.</p><p>“He sounds good.” He commented, trying to focus on the road and the soothing voice of the man and not on the girl that was looking at him sceptically.</p><p>“Why thank you.” She was trying to imitate his accent once again, taunting him, and he felt like the vein on his forehead was about to pop.</p><p>“I was complimentig his music, Tico, not you.” He declared, sternly.</p><p>“Ok then.” She scoffed, and they fell into silence once again.</p><p>They got to Amidala High almost five minutes after that exchange, and he stopped a couple of blocks away so they wouldn’t be seen together, even though most of the students were yet to arrive.</p><p>When Tico got out of the car she turned around before closing the door. “Remember, you’ll keep him away from his phone and I’ll do the dirty work.” She reminded him one more time, looking at him with intent.</p><p>“Dirty work?” He questioned from the driver’s seat, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“Well, misleading people into dating is as morally wrong as you get.” Her explanation seemed to crack him up, because a smirk that could only be catalogued as sincere made its way into his demeanour.</p><p>“Oh, I assure you, it’s ok.” Hux’s voice sounded genuinely amused and Rose didn’t know what to do with that question, so she decided to poke fun at him.</p><p>“Okay Satan.” She said, sarcastically. “Remember that we’ll text each other at five, outside of that we should only text for emergencies.” She clarified one last time, sounding the most formal she had ever sounded when regarding the topic of texting.</p><p>“Yes, yes, now leave, I still have to get to my teaching institution.” He reminded her, his expression going back to his unusual unfeeling one, and both his over polite way of speaking and overall stance made Rose smile slightly.</p><p>“Institution? I’m impressed.” She mocked his accent once more, tilting her head from the copilot’s door.</p><p>“Close the door, Tico.” He commanded, scowling at her.</p><p>“Goodbye to you too!” She answered, sounding sickeningly sweet, and she closed the door with a loud thud. He saw her rush towards her High School even though she was half an hour early. He rolled his eyes, unwittingly smiling at her eagerness to start her day.</p><p>He got his car back on the road, schooling his face back into his usual poker face, and what if he was blushing? Only he would know that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>TRANSLATIONS (I don't know any Vietnamese, so if something's wrong please tell me):<br/>cục cưng  —&gt; honey<br/>người yêu  —&gt; lover/sweetheart<br/>Tôi có thể tự làm điều này, người yêu  —&gt; I can do this myself, sweetheart<br/>Bướng bỉnh như mọi khi  —&gt; Stubborn as always<br/>Họ đã học được đặc điểm đó từ những điều tốt nhất  —&gt; They learned that trait from the best<br/>Chúng tôi phải mở nhà hàng của chúng tôi, người yêu   —&gt; We have to open our restaurant, sweetheart<br/>Vâng, vâng  —&gt;Yes, yes<br/>Xoài and Mít  —&gt; Mango and Jackfruit (this are Paige's and Rose's nicknames, respectively, and they're inspired by a super interesting article about Vietnamese nicknaming traditions: https://askvietnamese.vn/blog/post/vietnamese-and-nicknames)</p><p>Now, in this universe the world building has a lot of similes with the real world, so Hays Minor would be something akin to Vietnam (because both Rose's and Paige's actors are of Vietnamese descent, so yeah that's my reasoning), and on the other hand you guys might have noticed that this is based in Theed, the capital of Naboo, and that's because I've decided that the republic is A Thing™ not in an intergalactic kind of way, but in a way that resembles a federal state.</p><p>Also in the republic people speak solely English, although there are states with their own co-official language. ALSO although the High School system is based on the American educational system the rest of the stuff in this fic is more alike to the European Union institutions. Bear with me.</p><p>Last note, and I'm just adding this one out of spike, Arkanis is basically the UK and it's not part of the Republic as my newest Fuck You towards Brexit.</p><p>On a completely different note Hux may have a crush now, is it on Hozier or Rose? We might never know...</p><p>As always thank you SO MUUUUUCH for reading, all feedback is eagerly received so maybe leave a comment and kudos &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Prelude to a Caucus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All translations are in the end notes!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>So i know now this is NOT the time</p><p>
  <em> [12:34] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>But Temnin and Rey are really hitting it off!!!!</p><p>
  <em>[12:34] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Maybe we’re not as needed as we thought :))))</p><p>
  <em>[12:35] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Solo has spent all morning looking lovingly at his phone.</p><p>
  <em>[13:00] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Our labour is highly required, Tico.</p><p>
  <em>[13:00] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Have yuo gotten rid of the phone yet???</p><p>
  <em>[15:47] </em>
</p><p><b>Auntie Anne:</b> *you</p><p>
  <em>[15:49] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Having spelling problems, I reckon.</p><p>
  <em> [17:00] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>
  <em>I am yet to do so, but tomorrow I will master the skill of that withheld number nonsense.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> [17:00] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>
  <em>Things with your golden girl and her new beau are going well, then?</em>
</p><p>
  <em> [17:00] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Tico you are late.</p><p>
  <em> [17:01] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Tico.</p><p>
  <em> [17:01] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Tico I do not have all evening.</p><p>
  <em> [17:01] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>omfg youre crazy</p><p>
  <em> [17:02] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>What is “omfg”.</p><p>
  <em> [17:02] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Look it up you dumbass</p><p>
  <em> [17:02] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>You are not only late but you also dare to belittle me with such a common curse?</p><p>
  <em>[17:01] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Kiss my ass Hux, rlly</p><p>
  <em> [17:02] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>I said we’d talk at five</p><p>
  <em> [17:02] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>But not at 5 OCLOCK</p><p>
  <em> [17:03] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>That is literally what it means.</p><p>
  <em> [17:03] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Ugh </p><p>
  <em> [17:03] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>&gt;:(</p><p>
  <em> [17:03] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Ok so about Temmin and Rey</p><p>
  <em> [17:04] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Theyre fine</p><p>
  <em> [17:04] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Temmin has already has already told me that he wants to make a portrait of her and all</p><p>
  <em> [17:04] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>We’re doing great!! :D</p><p>
  <em> [17:04] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning.</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Don't be late.</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Actuallyyyyy</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Poe has told me he can give me a ride on his moto</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>Bc Finn has finally gotten a bike</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>So like, you don’t HAVE to</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Then I’ll text you tomorrow.</p><p>
  <em> [17:05] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>At 5PM o’clock, be punctual.</p><p>
  <em> [17:06] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>You go SNATCH that phone!</p><p>
  <em> [17:06] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Auntie Anne:</b>
</p><p>gl Hux</p><p>
  <em> [17:06] </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You:</b>
</p><p>Regards, Tico.</p><p>
  <em> [17:07] </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Armitage left his phone on his bed, getting back to his desk and reopening his physics textbook, back to the feared magnetic field exercises. </p><p>When he got to his third hellish problem he let himself imagine how much better the world would be if gravity didn’t exist at all.</p><p>While it was true that he would die in a matter of seconds if that were the case, he let himself have childish thoughts about being able to float around the world while he mentally died all over again because of another problem with too little data. </p><p>He imagined himself being able to chase Millicent around while they were both suspended on the air, the freedom he would feel when he could just fly out of his house whenever he wanted. </p><p>The twinge of cockiness he would feel when Rose didn’t get on Dameron’s motorbike because she, too, could fly to school.</p><p>He stopped himself right there, looking at his notes with a breathless look, as if they would answer his questions about what he had just thought. He wasn’t a daydreamer, hadn’t been one since he was a worthless kid in Arkanis, but when he permitted himself to revisit the image of his new partner in crime flying away from Dameron to float with him he felt a weird surge of warmth settle in his stomach.</p><p>He was being ridiculous.</p><p>He left everything related to those thoughts locked in the most recondite corners of his mind, leaving his physics homework, which wasn’t due in two weeks, anyways, and he took out his AP Calculus notebook, opening the tab full of exercises he had to get finished before the end of that month.</p><p>He lost himself in the mechanical operations he knew all too well, enjoying the feeling of control that he got when he finished a new exercise. He knew that many hours had passed, but he didn’t want to leave the safety of his homework, so when he finally finished his maths sheet he opened a new tab, starting a new essay for AP English.</p><p>It was quite a rudimentary topic, which he was thankful for, because he really needed to get a rest from his own traitorous mind. Still, when he was halfway through his one thousand words essay about where he saw himself in ten years his brain striked back.</p><p><em> Do I really want to do that? </em> , he thought to himself, immediately regretting it moments later. But he couldn’t stop, and he realized that there was a little part of himself that didn’t want to stop, which frankly terrified him, <em> do I really want to work in SpaceX? Or even NASA? Do I really want to follow the footsteps my father has laid out for me? </em></p><p>He urged himself to stop thinking at that very moment, but the voice inside of him kept on ruminating, making him roll over himself, out of breath and with teardrops falling on his computer keys.<em> Do I want to be alone, ten years from now? </em></p><p>He let out an actual sob at that, hugging himself out of habit. Luckily for him he had a roommate, a dear and dignified lady who had woken at his ragged breath, and who was now scratching his legs, giving him a silent command.</p><p>He stood a little bit straighter and Millicent was finally able to jump towards his lap, landing gracefully on it and curling over him while she purred.</p><p>He didn’t know how her feline brain knew how to comfort him, but he wasn't going to complain about it. He nuzzled her ears carefully, his hands trembling, and her purring increased in intensity, calming him like nothing else in the world could.</p><p>After a couple of minutes of embracing his most beloved feline he got back to his essay, finishing it in an optimistic tone, which was unusual of him, by writing that on the personal side the only thing he wanted for was for a loyal life companion. A role he knew his Millicent could fit in just fine.</p><p>He looked at the clock and wasn’t surprised at the hour. It was half past eleven and Hux felt a pang of hunger in his stomach, and he quickly berated himself for such a weak reaction from his body at something he was quite used to. Hunger.</p><p>It was pretty late, though, so maybe Maratelle had already passed out and, if he was fortunate enough, his father had dined already, so maybe he could surface to the kitchen to get some dinner for him. He knew that he was being way too optimistic, but when hunger came his plan of sneaking to the fridge for dinner seemed all the more appealing.</p><p>He walked up the stairs to the door that connected him to the main house and he opened it gingerly, not wanting to make a sound. Both the dining room and the kitchen had their lights off, which was a relief. Upon further quietude he could hear his father’s loud snoring, which meant that at least he was out of the picture.</p><p>It’d be a walk in the park, he figured, and thus he headed for the kitchen, looking at the fridge with the look the same way a man would look at an oasis after weeks lost in the desert. He was heading to it silently yet fast as an arrow when a cough startled him, and when he turned at the only possible source of it he was mortified to find Maratelle holding a glass of wine, looking at him with an annoyed expression.</p><p>“You left for school earlier than usual.” She stated, sounding drunk and yet serious.</p><p>“I had to go to a Debate Team reunion.” He answered instantly, his tone as calculated and expressionless as a witness’ when testifying in court.</p><p>“Before school?” She asked, questioning him in a deliberate manner that could match and surpass her stepson’ purposeful way of talking. She still sounded drunk, making her a little bit hazier, and that gave Armitage hope of getting out of the conversation in one piece. “Don’t look at me like that, child, I’m just saying that back when <em> I </em>went to High School we held our reunions after class.” She continued, trailing off with a nostalgic look on her face, which she erased a second later, but Armitage had seen it, and lord forbid that he didn’t take advantage of her slight fogginess.</p><p>“In the First Order we prefer to do things earlier.” He answered resolutely, getting closer to the fridge and finally opening it, not finding anything that looked like it could be heated up in the microwave.</p><p>“Yeah, right.” She sounded unconvinced. “Whoever the girl or boy or whatever is you're seeing is, remember to use protection, because I don’t want to see your father’s reaction at you having an STD.” She told him without batting an eyelash, and Hux closed the fridge, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“Don’t worry Maratelle, I will be the last bastard of this family.” He had sounded more bitter than he had intended to, and he waited for the rage that came with his outright disrespectfulness at his stepmother.</p><p>“So we’re calling it a family now.” She didn’t reprimand him for what he said, surely because she was drunk and feeling rather cheeky. </p><p>“Maratelle, you’re drunk.” He noted, silently asking her to end their little exchange there, before she went from lippy drunk to angry drunk.</p><p>“Always so observant, eh, boy.” She answered instead, in an over familiar kind of way that made his blood boil, but he kept his sten façade. “You know, you’ve always been so much smarter than Brendol…” She sounded so calm when she said that, that he thought she was about to drift off on the spot, but when she looked at him in the eye he saw a frightening electricity that only she could manage, silently challenging him to agree with her.</p><p>“Shut up.” He urged her, trying to match the strength of her glance, giving up moments afterwards, looking down. “Please.” He almost implored her, and his change of temper seemed to remind Maratelle of something, for she switched her gaze from Armitage to the fridge and then back to Armitage.</p><p>She walked past him with an impetuous pace, wending her way as if she wasn’t drunk out of her mind, and she opened the fridge, moving around most of the contents within said machine by the sound of it, and a minute later Armitage heard her close the fridge again, walking towards him in an ever hastier pace.</p><p>“Here. It’s Omerethian, I think.” She said, her groggy voice sounding out of pace in a body that had moved so swiftly and gracefully around the kitchen moments before. She offered him the small container then as if it were an heirloom.</p><p>“It looks like it’s Haysian.” He commented, noticing that although the calligraphy was curvy and almost illegible for him, the logo was definitely Otomokian, and the standoffish look that she shot him as a response made him feel even more awkward.</p><p>“Ah, then it must be from that place your father hates. Something something Sebris, isn’t it?” She stumbled on her words, looking coldly at the entrance of the kitchen, where the snoring sounds came from, as if his father would receive the frost of that harsh glare. But Armitage didn’t care, since he had gone still as he looked down at his food, struck with a sudden image of Rose’s sly smile, her head tilted at him and provoking. </p><p>“Thank you dearly, Maratelle.” He thanked her, letting a tiny amount of warmth make its way to his voice, startling his stepmother.</p><p>“It’s no bother, child, us Brendol’s slaves have to stick together.” She said, sardonically, but looking at him with a softness he was just getting used to receiving from her. He nodded at that, running back to the basement door and shutting it in a matter of seconds, not noticing the weary sigh that Maratelle exhaled as he went.</p><p>She had been weirdly civil with him after he found him and his ex boyfriend making out on their porch that last summer. Back then he had been scared of Maratelle, who he thought was going to tell his father of his actions, but to his utmost surprise she had been kinder than she had ever been. Since then she had been cordial at best and aloof at worst, but overall the most humane she had been with him in his lifetime.</p><p>It was both a huge improvement and suspicious change.</p><p>She had always been cruel to him. Not sadistically, like his father, but still cold and neglectful. To her he was only the other benefactor of Brendol’s inheritance and a boy to whom she didn’t owe a thing, for she wasn’t related to him by blood.</p><p>That reminded him of Rae, and for a second he pondered sending her a text.</p><p>He decided against that, it was too late for it anyways, and he started to eat his cold noodles fastly, enjoying the shadow of a quite tasty spice that hadn’t been lost in the freezer. <em> Maybe one day I could ask Tico to bring some food over to their reunions, only to get a better taste of it </em>, he thought to himself.</p><p>He kicked himself mentally, hearing a voice from the back of his mind call him a stupid boy for even imagining that.</p><p>He finished his meal with Millicent at his feet, staring up at him with huge eyes that were begging him for some food too. He could never resist her green bambi eyes, so he offered her one strand of beef, which she eagerly ate from his hand.</p><p>He smiled at that, and after he finished the carton’s meal he put it on his nightstand, laying in bed afterwards, checking his phone one last time before falling asleep. It was already half past twelve, a new day had officially started. </p><p>A new day of him trying to get Ben Solo a substantial detention, of Rose going to school holding onto Dameron on his motorbike, of Mitaka avoiding him because of their breakup and of Phasma shunning him for not being straight.</p><p>He closed his eyes, not really wanting to open them in the morning, and he fell asleep, dreaming of the soothing sound of the man singing in his car that past morning and the gentle ring of Rose’s voice when she argued with him about the most banal things.</p><p>Hours later he was surprised when he awoke with a smile on his lips for the first time in a lifetime.</p><p> </p><p>Hux was grounded.</p><p>Rose could not believe that a seventeen year old could be grounded for a week for making a fake call, but Hux always managed to exceed her expectations. </p><p><em> At least </em> , she thought, <em> he surprises me both with a surrealist situation and a letter. </em>A physical letter, no less, with a stamp, a neat calligraphy and her restaurant’s direction cautiously laid out on the back of it. Still, it was clear for her, because at the top of the envelope one could read her name in bold capital letters, as if the sender wanted to be extremely careful to make the destinatary clear.</p><p>Which he had done, of course, and Rose didn’t care about her mother’s overzealous glances at the letter or her sister’s constant interrogations regarding the contents of the letter, because it was <em>her </em>letter, her very first letter. So she was enjoying that.</p><p>It was dated of the last day she had heard from Hux, also known as the day she almost died of a heart attack after riding on Poe’s <em> moto </em> to school, and in it Hux told her about how he had been caught and how his father had been notified, which had resulted on him getting grounded for a week. Luckily for them, Hux’s father was going to let him have his weekly sunday jog, so they could meet there.</p><p>Rose was thrilled about her first letter, but she was honestly horrified at the prospect of her first three hour long running session with none other than Armitage Hux.</p><p>What she was willing to give up for getting a scholarship for Corellia’s pre-law program was unheard of, of that she was positive.</p><p>Although the letter had been sent on Wednesday, she had received it the day before the almost-marathon, which led her to cancel her plans with Jannah and Zorii mere hours beforehand, which was going as well as last minute cancellations went.</p><p>“Rose Tico you gigantic whore.” Said Zorii, who was laying on her bed with her hands covering her face, in an obvious state of utter despair. “We had been planning this lunch for weeks!” Her consequent scream was muffled by her hands, and Rose couldn’t help her chuckle.</p><p>“I know Zorii, but I have to study!” She got closer as she said that as cheerful as she could manage, and she reached for the blonde’s nape, scratching her there and receiving a satisfied rumbling sound for the caresses.</p><p>“Stop, you know me too well.” She said, sounding like a grumpy tween, and Rose’s smile grew slightly. “Rose this isn’t fair, your next text is in like a month, you can definitely go with us to have brunch.” She continued to argue, although she sounded way tamer than before, and before Rose could make up a lie to justify her last minute cancelation for the millionth time another voice talked.</p><p>“It’s actually in like a week.” Commented Jannah offhandedly.</p><p>“Ugh.” Responded Rose, being more sincere with her disdain than she had wanted to. She had completely forgotten about her next English exam and, momentarily, she started to consider cancelling both her brunch plans and her plotting plans. </p><p>She was so close to losing her A in English that she had even considered asking Rey for tutoring, and if that didn’t show her desperation nothing else would.</p><p>“But Rose why didn’t you tell us sooner?!” Started Zorii, sounding displeased both because she had been misled by one of her best friends and because said friend had stopped scratching her nape. “I had planned it all so well, you know, we were going to dress color coded so I could take some nice pics.” She sighed, loudly, throwing herself out of Rose’s bed.</p><p>“Oh my god Zorii shut up, it’s fine.” Exclaimed Jannah as the other girl started to check herself in front of Rose’s body mirror, looking like a kitten that was seeing her reflection for the first time.</p><p>“Because you were gonna wear your dark blue dress, right?” She asked Rose in a frantic tone, completely disregarding Jannah, as she tried to rearrange her hair with desperation and sorrow.</p><p>“Ok, fashionista.” Jannah walked over to her, braiding her hair forcefully as she kept on talking. “Rose’s our friend and she <em> needs </em> to excel in all her classes,” she spoke forcefully, accentuating every word with a strong tug to Zorii’s hair, “and we’re her best friends so we’re going to support her in all her efforts, and if that means that our group photos aren’t going to be as color coordinated then. So. Be. It.” She said the last four words as she tied the braid up, emphasizing each word with each twirl of the elastic.</p><p>Zorii, who was looking quite calmer after that pep talk, stared at her reflection with a hint of a smile. Jannah’s braids had that uplifting effect on people, after all, and when Rose raised her head to see Zorii cleaning her ruined eye makeup while Jannah reapplied her own lip gloss she felt a sudden twinge of longing.</p><p>She wanted to join them, she really did, but her future scholarship relied heavily on her and Hux breaking up Rey’s relationship with Solo. She closed her English notebook, a strong feeling of regret starting to pool on her belly, and she walked over to her door, opening it for her friends.</p><p>“Jannah, Zorii, I love you guys more than the other Rose loved Jack-”, Rose started, being interrupted by her two friends, which was perfect according to her plan.</p><p>“Oh no you didn’t.” Zorii turned her head towards her the moment she had referred to the other Rose, and she looked enraged at her for such comparison.</p><p>“Rose that’s sacred!” Jannah had reacted just a second after Zorii, but she looked even more shaken. Rose knew that distracting her two best friends from her lie about studying wasn’t ethical at all, but out of all the things that she had done lately she decided that sidelining their attention by citing a movie that was very important to the three of them wasn’t her worst deed of the week.</p><p>“I love you a lot, girls, to the moon and back yadda yadda but I really need to get going.” She reminded them, giving them an apologetic look.</p><p>“Ugh. Fine.” Zorii said, rolling her eyes, receiving a thud on the arm from Jannah.</p><p>“Rude.” When Rose said that she wasn’t looking at Zorii but at Jannah, shooting her a dejected look.</p><p>“Zorii Bliss apologized to my daughter right now.” Jannah demanded, only half jokingly.</p><p>“Ok, ok. Sorry.” She raised her hands in defeat, which made the other two girls laugh at how sorry she actually looked. “You guys are weird.” She commented while she put down her hands, a touch of bashfulness ringing in her low tone.</p><p>“Pot, kettle…” commented Jannah while she lowered herself to lace her sandals.</p><p>“Pot? Girls, leave that kind of stuff for college.” Rose almost short circuited when she heard her sister's voice from her bedroom’s door. <em> Of course Paige would get inside my room just after my friends had agreed on leaving </em>, she thought, trying to get over the sudden wave of helplessness that was drowning her confidence in her lies by the second.</p><p>“This is it, you three, leave!” She screamed, which seemed to do the trick, for both of her friends and her sister were standing straighter than before, their eyes open wide as a full moon in the middle of an eclipse.</p><p>“Yes, ma’am!” Jannah had single handedly killed the mood of fear and respect around Rose, which resulted in a conflicted Zorii, a flabbergasted Paige and a flustered Rose.</p><p>“Ugh, ok.” Zorii’s intervention conveyed both her surprise at her friend’s small outburst and her disdain for all authority figures. Still when she followed Jannah to the hallway Rose counted it as an absolute win.</p><p>“Rose this is my home, too.” Paige, on the other hand, wasn’t buying her commanding voice, making Rose beyond nervous.</p><p>“And this is my bedroom!” She exclaimed, clearly distressed, which only seemed to lead on. </p><p>The two girls on the hallway looked at Paige as one looked at a car crash, with overflowing fear and pity, but before she said something she would regret later, a man’s voice resonated through the house..</p><p>“And this is a lot of <em> bánh tai heo </em>!” Hue shouted from their kitchen, one story below, stopping Paige on her tracks. Said girl seemed to have forgotten completely about her squabbling. She turned around at once, consequently running down the stairs, with Jannah and Zorii following her closely, for all of them were over the moon at the prospect of her father’s pastries.</p><p>Rose was finally alone.</p><p>“<em>Anh yêu em, Ba.</em>” Sighed Rose to her empty bedroom, rapidly changing her clothes to her most sporty outfit.</p><p>“Bye Rose!” She heard Jannah scream, she presumed that from her house’s back door, and she smiled.</p><p>“Bye! Have fun!” And she sincerely wished that they had fun, even thought that she wished even harder that she could be there with them.</p><p>“Break a leg, midget!” Zorii said, and not a second after the loud slam of her back door closing could be heard from all points of her house. Rose smiled to herself while she finished her ponytail with one hand, unlocking her phone with the other and sending Zorii an emoji flipping her off.</p><p>She looked at herself at the mirror before leaving her bedroom, staring at her appearance. Her tank top looked too loose and yet too tight for her body, which reminded her once more the reason for her hatred towards sportswear. And, if she was honest with herself, towards her own body. But Rose wasn’t honest with herself.</p><p>She didn’t consider herself fat, not at all, just a little bit chubby, which was only more obvious when she wore biker tights and her thin Lord Of The Rings tank top. She looked down at her backpack, filled with a couple of random textbooks and her earphones, and she sighed.</p><p>She sprinted down the stairs, not wanting to come across anybody, and that proved to be an unrealistic goal. </p><p>She almost went back upstairs when she saw her father waiting for her at the end of the stairs with a bowl filled with <em> bánh tai heo. </em></p><p>“<em>Bạn có muốn một ít không? Chị gái và bạn bè của bạn đang ăn những thứ này ở bếp</em>.” The intoxicating smell of the <em> bánh tai heo </em> flooded her nostrils and, although she was risking being late to her reunion, she decided to stay. She would sacrifice many things for Corellia, but not <em> bánh tai heo </em>.</p><p>“<em>Vâng, Ba. Cảm ơn</em>.” She grabbed the biscuit he was offering her with one hand, beaming.</p><p>“<em>Bạn đang đến nhà bếp để tham gia với chúng tôi?</em>” She shook her head no as she ate one of the parties with a lighting speed. “<em>Hãy cẩn thận</em>.” Her father 's tone had changed at that, sounding uncharacteristically grave, making Rose perk up her head at the surprise.</p><p>“<em>Tôi sẽ đến thư viện, nó sẽ ổn thôi.</em>” He looked uncertain and the only thing that Rose wanted to do was to reassure him of how safe she would be, even if that meant that she had to lie more than she was comfortable with. “<em>Đó là một chuyến xe buýt mười phút từ đây, tôi sẽ trở lại lúc mười giờ.</em>”</p><p>“<em> Nếu anh ấy là bất cứ điều gì ít hơn một quý ông, hãy gọi cho tôi. </em> ” He was looking at her dead in the eye, which only made her blush even harder at his comment. She was on the verge of an actual breakdown, but nevertheless she tried to keep her act together, because she could lie like she had never lied before for a scholarship, but she wasn’t going to let her father believe she had a <em> date </em> with her <em> accomplice </em>.</p><p>“<em>Ba</em>, I’m going to go to the library. Alone.” She said the last word as if it were the most obvious thing on earth, and maybe if her face hadn't been scarlet red it would have been convincing.</p><p>“<em>Vâng, vâng, Mít</em>.” His voice had grown slightly amused, losing most of its seriousness, but in Rose’s opinion it only made the whole situation worse.</p><p>“<em>Tạm biệt,  Ba</em>.” She said, hurriedly, trying to finish the conversation as soon as possible, because even though she loved her father dearly she knew that two of his biggest faults were how easily he misunderstood most situations and how he couldn’t hide anything from her mother or, in the worst case scenario, to Paige.</p><p>“<em>Tôi mến bạn, Mít</em>.” He said, tenderly, and she smiled weakly at him as she turned around, basically running to the back door. “<em>Đừng quên chai nước của bạn!</em>” She almost slapped her forehead at that, walking back to her dad, who had the bowl filled with cookies on his lap and was extending a bottle of water she hadn’t seen before to her. She had to chuckle at how anticipatory her father was, and his gaze grew even softer at that. “<em>Và đưa anh ấy về nhà vào một ngày nào đó, tôi muốn gặp anh ấy.</em>” She yelped at that, and in that moment it was him who chuckled at her. </p><p>“<em>Ba!</em>” His eyes crinkled at that, and Rose couldn't help to smile back at him before heading towards the back door.</p><p>She was going to be fine, if not for her, for him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>TRANSLATIONS:<br/>Bánh tai heo—&gt; Pork ears<br/>Anh yêu em, Ba.—&gt; I love you, Dad.<br/>Bạn có muốn một số? Chị gái và bạn bè của bạn đã ăn một số trong số này tại nhà bếp trước.—&gt; Would you like some? Your sister and friends ate some of these at the kitchen before.<br/>Vâng, Ba. Cảm ơn.—&gt; Yes, dad. Thanks.<br/>Bạn đang đến nhà bếp để tham gia với chúng tôi?—&gt; Are you coming to the kitchen to join us?<br/>Hãy cẩn thận.—&gt; Be careful.<br/>Tôi sẽ đến thư viện, nó sẽ ổn thôi.—&gt; I will go to the library, it will be fine.<br/>Đó là một chuyến xe buýt mười phút từ đây, tôi sẽ trở lại lúc mười giờ.—&gt; It's a ten minute bus ride from here, I'll be back at ten.<br/>Nếu anh ấy là bất cứ điều gì ít hơn một quý ông, hãy gọi cho tôi.—&gt; If he is anything less than a gentleman, call me.<br/>Vâng, vâng, Mít.—&gt; Yes, yes, Mít.<br/>Tạm biệt,  Ba.—&gt; Goodbye, Dad.<br/>Tôi mến bạn, Mít.—&gt; I love you, Mít.<br/>Đừng quên chai nước của bạn!—&gt; Don't forget your water bottle!<br/>Và đưa anh ấy về nhà vào một ngày nào đó, tôi muốn gặp anh ấy.—&gt; And take him home someday, I want to meet him.</p><p>I how there's a lot of Vietnamese in this chapter, and believe me when I say that I'm not certain about it being a 100% accurate, but I have a head canon of Hue being a first generation immigrant that talks to his family in his mother tongue and I'm NOT giving it up.<br/>And yes NASA and SpaceX exist in this universe because I say so and because Elon Musk is an interdimensional asshole, respectively.</p><p>On a more serious note I've got my college entrance exams in like,,,, three weeks, so I'm not going to update as much as I wish I could :((<br/>Also thank you for the feedback!!! It's super sweet and wholesome and it has motivated me a lot &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Of Movement and Reasoning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All of the houses around Rose were overly fenced, tall and imposing. The architectural style bordered on hostile, with a faint classical touch given by the colossal columns in the entrance of every building. That prettiness made the brutalistic style of the building even more pronounced. </p><p>The buildings looked too big for a single family, and way too intimidating to be referred to as homes, and she shuddered at the thought</p><p>She gingerly walked towards the direction that Hux had written, getting to the end of the eerie street she was in, finding Hux’s house. The thick black railing of the entrance and leafy landscape on the front garden created a deep green curtain that hid away Hux’s place. She wondered how beautiful it would look in autumn, when the color shifted from mossy green to different tones of reds and oranges.</p><p>Suddenly, her wish came true and there was orange making its way into that scenery, but not in the form of a new station dawning upon.</p><p>“Good morning, Tico.” Said her partner in crime, standing tall after closing the doors of the metallic fence. “You’re late.” Hux noted, and Rose had to huff at his uptight tone.</p><p>“Tit for tat.” She answered, narrowing her eyes at him, and it was his turn to scratch his nose in disgust. It was an annoyingly cute gesture, and Rose had to look away from him before she splurt out something she'd regret later.</p><p>She paid attention to his attire instead, scrutinizing his black smartwatch and his sports clothing, with the symbol of expensive brands sprayed all over it. <em> What a pretentious asshole </em>, she thought as she looked down at her hands in embarrassment.</p><p>She felt self-conscious for a second, and as she tried to come up with something to say she had a realization: she had morals and he didn't, kind of. That made her feel quite better about her ratty old leggings and nerdy tank top, and so she was able to form a good verbal jab.</p><p>“How do you manage to be overdressed even when going for a run?” She teased him, smiling at how nice that small annoying comment had felt.</p><p>“Some of us have good taste, Tico.” His voice was cutting when he said that, and unfortunately that remark hurt her more than it should have, because he was right, if only partially so. In comparison to him, who always tried to look his pompous best, she dressed herself to look plain, to be overlooked. Her smile immediately disappeared, and she wanted to beat herself up at how much her short-lived taunting had backfired on her.</p><p>“Well, some of us don’t want to ruin expensive clothes for <em> running </em>.” She shot back, trying to get her head out of her self doubt spiral, which luckily it seemed to work.</p><p>“Walk faster.” Commanded Hux, ignoring her comment and looking over his shoulder as he speeded up. Rose had to focus on sprinting behind him, and when she could finally discern a black toyota parked in one side of the road, she felt like singing.</p><p>She did just that after they got into the car, plugging in her phone to play the playlist she had specifically created for her car rides with Hux. They were riding towards a park on the most affluent side of Theed, and to keep herself from gagging at its opulent landscape, Rose raised the volume of the Taylor Swift song that was playing.</p><p>“<em> She wears high heels! I wear sneakers! She’s cheer- </em>” She sang as loudly as she could manage, not wanting to sound well but to annoy the redhead that was sitting next to her.</p><p>“Of course you wear sneakers, vermin. You’re going for a run.” He commented, his jaw clenching and his knuckles withering on the steering wheel.</p><p>“It’s a song, Hux.” She said, rolling her eyes.</p><p>“A terrible song, honestly.” He continued, and Rose avertedly perked up, finding it both funny and exciting how he sounded like he was genuinely annoyed by it. </p><p>“And why is that?” She asked, her body swifting to face Hux’s profile, and her voice as neutral as possible.</p><p>“Well, for starters, why should she compare herself to another woman to get her supposed soulmate?” He started, his tone as grave as if he was introducing his team’s position in a debate competition. “It doesn’t make sense, her own compatibility with him should be enough!” Rose had to smile at how he raised his voice the more he critiqued the lyrics, finding it endlessly hilarious how that was the hill he wanted to die on regarding his comradeship with her.</p><p>“I hate to say it, but… You have a point.” She led him on, trying to sound thoughtful for an opinion that she had thought of herself many times before. She failed miserably, always the terrible liar, but Hux seemed too engrossed in what he’d say next to even notice.</p><p>“Of course I do!” He exclaimed, as if offended by her agreeing with him so easily. “Also, it sounds like a pop-country hybrid, which immediately makes it a musical abomination.” He concluded, calmly, a smirk making its way to his face, and Rose’s eyes widened.</p><p>“Excuse me!?” She all but exclaimed. He chuckled airly, a sound so posh-sounding that Rose found herself even angrier after hearing it.</p><p>“I’m stating facts, Tico.” He said, sounding too full of himself for his own good.</p><p>“Oh prepare to fucking eat your words, Taylor has the best country songs, and songs altogether!” She continued to say, loudly, which wasn’t loud by general standards but for the always quiet and timid Rose Tico was basically screeching.</p><p>“Altogether? I’m impressed.” He continued to joke, and Rose found herself calmer by the mention of… <em> Of what </em> ?, she wondered, <em> of, force forbid it, of an </em> inside joke <em> ? An inside joke </em> Hux <em> and </em> I <em> share? </em>Her sudden calmness turned into airsickness, and she had to take a deep breath and think of a B in English to get angry once again, before the redhead noticed her silence, which was bordering on uncomfortably long. </p><p>“Oh but you will be impressed!” She said, sounding fainter than she had intended, but still very decided in her decided tool of torture.</p><p>She opened her favorite playlist dedicated to Taylor Swift, the one she usually played when Zorii was in the mood of singing with her, and he hoped that Hux found it as annoying as Jannah did.</p><p>The first song started, and Rose started singing loudly, really loud, louder than Hux had ever heard her voice, of that she was sure. He flinched a little, turning his face to stare at her, and she didn’t turn around, she looked at him with a rebellious gaze. He looked intimidated as he turned again to look at the road, and Rose closed her eyes satisfiedly. </p><p>Minutes passed and Rose’s voice was starting to sound rougher, but she kept on singing her heart out with every song that played on the car radio.</p><p>“<em> And you were wild and crazy, just so frustrating, intoxicating, complicated, got away by some mistake and now I'll be screamin' and fightin' and kissing in the rain- </em>” The car stopped and she stopped singing, heady with how pretty the green trees that surrounded the car were. </p><p>A voice took her out of her stupor, and she started to unlock her seatbelt as the redhead next to her announced. “We’re here.” Rose could have sworn that his cheeks had been rosy. She supposed that it was because of the warm weather, and she tried to not think about it further, feeling her face grow warm, too. </p><p>Hux got out of the car fastly, supporting himself on the hood of the car as he started to stretch, looking abstently at his side. Pointently avoiding eye contact with Rose.</p><p>She shook her head as she got out of the car, rolling her shoulders, trying to get rid of the tension that had suddenly grown within her.</p><p>She turned at Hux as she tried to figure out how to stretch herself, but her reflection on the black car caught her eyes first. She looked big, deformed and she most definitely wanted to ignore the unsettling feeling that was growing on her lower belly.</p><p>She knew that her reflection was not accurate, and that her middle wasn’t as big as it appeared to be in the door of the Toyota, but still a voice drummed in the back of her head, clouding her thoughts until all rationality exited her brain.</p><p>What her brain was musing made her feel like crying right there, and she’s about to do just that until the same voice woke her up from her spiralling. But it wasn’t like a mere minute before, she wasn’t enchanted by what she saw, not at all, and the voice wasn’t as plain as before, some concern lacing its way through it. </p><p>“Vermin, my iPod has run out of battery.” Stated Hux, turning his whole body to her, his arms crossed and his green eyes coldly analyzing her. No disapproval was apparent in his expression, and for some reason that gave Rose enough strength to be able to move once again.</p><p><em> So much for a normal run with my crime partner, huh? Also, letting </em> him <em> non-verbally make you decide on whether you’re cute or not is on your top ten pathetic moments, </em> something that was most definitely not fueled by her kept on talking, and so her thoughts started to be plagued with passive-aggressiveness directed towards herself.</p><p>“What do you want me to do, you prim asshole? Create electricity from scratch for your phone?” She snapped, feeling overwhelmed, and for a second the other teenager looked angry at her, but surprisingly he took a deep breath and a moment later he talked again.</p><p>“I was just wondering if you had a portable charger.” He deadpanned. He didn’t snap back. Rose would have considered that weird, but she was too confused to even notice how unusual that had been.</p><p>“Do I look like I can afford that?” She continued to snap, and Hux’s brow furrowed.</p><p>“It’s not that expensive.” He countered, against all odds mostly composed.</p><p>“‘It’s not that expensive’, kriff, I didn’t know that twenty credits was <em> cheap </em>.” She snapped again, but after trying to imitate the other’s snobby accent her tone swifted to something less aggressive.</p><p>“Fine, so can you play some music from yours, then?” He asked, sounding uninterested, although his shoulders stiffened and he continued to face her, lowering his face to better study her face’s reaction from the other side of the car.</p><p>“What?” She asked, dumbfounded. His lips twitched up for barely a moment, and she didn't know how to take that either, which made her feel even more dumbfounded.</p><p>“Play your sports playlist.” He said, sounding so full of himself that she felt that he was daring her to do her worst. “Kriff, it can be any kind of playlist, just make the songs upbeat.” He scoffed, finally turning away from her, going back to his usual Rose-loathing self.</p><p>“Oh. Oh!” Her eyes widened, and then narrowed immensely as she came to a conclusion, examining Hux’s stretching form as she continued to talk. “Hux, if you want to listen to my music you just have to ask, y’know.” She commented, her words meek but her tone mocking.</p><p>“Whatever, vermin.” He said, going back to stretching his legs, waiting for her to turn the music on.</p><p>“So you like Taylor Swift, then? That’s the message that you’re sending, Hux. It’s so loud it can be heard from Alpha Centauri and all.” She commented as she opened her phone, feeling satisfied with the prospect of annoying Hux to death with her most bubbly-pop songs.</p><p>“You don’t even know where that is.” He scoffed, swinging his torso fastly, looking behind himself momentarily every time he did so, making it possible for Rose to see how he looked almost entertained by their interaction.</p><p>“But I’ve got friends there, man! Their local wine is specially good.” She commented, trying to sound as sophisticated as she could manage. She tried to drown her upcoming chuckle by doing the posh sound Hux made on debates after he said something he deemed as a good point, and she could swear that she saw a short-lived smile on the other’s face.</p><p>“Oh, I didn’t know that Amidala High had a penpals program with <em> Alpha Centauri. </em>” He sounded, dare she say, amused when he talked, and Rose felt a smile creeping up to her demeanour, which she fought off by saying whatever came first to her head.</p><p>“Only the best for us, the pupils of public education.” She said, sarcastically, yelping a little at the end, having stretched her legs a little too much and Hux looked all too happy to respond to that.</p><p>“Pupils? I’m impressed.” He remarked, and although Rose didn’t see his face she could hear his smile on his voice.</p><p>“Oh will you stop that!” She said, not even mad. Which freaked her out. Was she having a <em> pleasant </em> time on a sunday morning with none other than Armitage Hux? She really needed to go out more, because if she could qualify some time shared with the most vicious debater in all Theed as quality time, she had a problem.</p><p>She put one last song on the Play next option, and she turned to the taller teen, physically ready to start their jog. </p><p>Mentally, though, she was feeling exhausted by the wide range of emotions she had felt in the last half hour, and the only thing she wanted to do was go back home and sleep the morning away.</p><p>They had to talk about their plan, though, about its progress on the FOI front and in the Amidala High front, and she really wanted to share her developments and plan for the following week.</p><p>Hux turned around too, placing himself at a considerable distance from her, not too close to but close enough for them to be able to communicate.</p><p>“Let's go.” He said, taking off in a moderate path, and Rose followed suit. “So, Solo has detention… What’s that?” He asks, interrupting his own report of the current situation out of the sheer dislike he seemed to have to the song that was currently playing from Rose’s phone.</p><p>“A song.” Answered Rose, not bothering to look up at his scrunched up face.</p><p>“Hardly. Tico, I asked for <em> upbeat </em>, and this doesn’t qualify as upbeat.” He noted, sounding serious, but Rose was in the mood for one last laugh.</p><p>“Excuse you, this is all the rage between upbeat music fans.” She said, falsely outraged.</p><p>“Where? In Alpha Centauri?” Apparently, he was in the mood for one last laugh too, and Rose had no choice but to smile.</p><p>“Exactly.” She panted a bit at that, and she figured that no matter how entertaining her little arguments with Hux proved to be, they had a mission to fulfill, so she changed the song before he could open his mouth.</p><p>“Solo has been grounded,” Hux started, sounding almost mechanical as his step started to grow faster to match the beat of the pop rock song that was playing. Rose kept up with that change of pace, breathing as deeply as she could manage to avoid being exhausted too soon, “he’s been moping since before that happened, though, still, getting his phone taken until next friday will help our mission. I’m certain that in less than a month we will have been successful.” He affirmed, and Rose rolled her eyes at that blatant self-assurance.</p><p>“He might be moping because of me, Hux.” She said, and a satisfied smile appeared in her face both because she had been quite sneaky on her part of their so-called mission and because she had managed to sound perfectly fine when she spoke, rather than as exhausted as she was beginning to feel.</p><p>“Wait,” he started, and Rose could hear his lone brain cell short-circuit from where she was running, “have you decided to seduce <em> Andor </em>?” He asked, flabbergasted, and Rose’s surprise was unmeasurable, her eyes widening beyond what must be remotely comfortable.</p><p>“What? Kriff, Hux, I’m talking about the Temmin plan! The one I explained to you over text?! Also, Ando-Erso!” She all but exclaimed, feeling quite out of breath after doing so, thus she decided to proceed in a measured manner. “Last Friday I sat with her at lunch, and when I asked her about him —after I introduced him as a topic to the table and gave my opinion on him, of course— well,” She clarified, which made the other huff, because he most definitely had wanted to remark on her brashiness, “she was all fidgety, saying that he’s kind and cute.” She finished, feeling positively out of breath.</p><p>“Did she say that, exactly?” He asked, his tone filled with disbelief.</p><p>“Well, yes, it was along the lines of ‘oh yes, Temmin is very kind, I daresay being cute is also in the range of possibilities of this scenario but I will need further empirical evidence to be most certain about such a handsomely sought after characteristic’.” She said, ending with a girly giggle, trying to imitate the way she supposed that Hux presumed that girls laughed. Hux groaned.</p><p>“That was very funny, Tico.” He deadpanned.</p><p>“She does debate like that, you have to give me that.” She argued, and Hux snickered in a way that sounded like he was mocking her and acknowledging her point. Mostly it sounded very posh, so Rose decided to conclude on it being the dumbest sound she had ever heard.</p><p>“Well, then what’s next?” He asked, and his question was welcomed with an awkward silence, as both Rose and Hux realized what their next move would be. That was until the next song started playing.</p><p>“Ugh, I love this song! <em> Vous les hommes êtes tous les mêmes, macho mais cheap... </em>”, she started to weakly sing along, although not really singing the lyrics, but phonetically imitating them. Hux’s face grew red as the song progressed, but Rose didn’t notice, being too engrossed in the task that was keeping up with her running partner, coming up with a strategy to keep Rey and Solo apart and singing a catchy song in an idiom she didn’t understand.</p><p>“I think we shouldn't introduce Solo to a new girl, he’s so on edge lately that only Pharma has been able to stop him from fighting anyone or everyone in the First Order Institute.” Hux said, talking slower and louder than he usually did, as if trying to drown out the song that was playing and his running partner’s impromptu performance. Rose shut up after he started talking, and she wholeheartedly agreed with his hindsight, partly because it made sense and partly because she knew that if she tried to counter argue his idea she’d grow even more exhausted.</p><p>“Ok.” She said, urging him to keep on coming up with ideas as she tried to break through her first round of fatigue.</p><p>“On Andor’s side, you must continue to set her up with Wexley, do not pass any chance for them to interact with each other. Do everything in your power to make them spend as much time together as possible.” At that Rose nodded, the fogginess of her mind not being enough for her to be unable to plan situations in which she could do as what her partner in crime had suggested. “You have done the hardest part already, Tico, which is not bad but not good enough nonetheless.” He said, straightening his back, in a way that couldn't be comfortable when running, and raising his nose too, looking very close to condescending, which made Rose fume with anger.</p><p>“So what? I’m supposed to, to push harder the situation until they fall irrevocably in love? Also, it’s Andor-Erso.” She said, mispronouncing irrevocably, and a little bit out of breath, finding that being angry only made her more tired.</p><p>“Yes, push them harder.” He said as he nodded curtly and raised his speed once again to match the much faster song that had come up on Rose’s phone. She felt like screaming, but she tried to keep up with his speed anyway. She wasn’t willing to look weaker than him, not in a million years.</p><p>“Push harder?” She asked again, although she didn’t even realize she had even muttered it, her body running on autopilot.</p><p>“Yes, Tico, are you deaf? Push harder.” He said, sounding exasperated with the girl next to him.</p><p>“Push harder.” She whined, more to herself than anything else, and she was so out of breath that the only other person in that part of the park, a tall, middle-aged woman walking a dog, looked at Rose as scandalized as one would look at her if she had done something improper. <em> Hah, ‘Rose you’re being improper’, that’s something Hux’d say </em>, she thought to herself, laughing a little under her breath, which only resulted in a cough.</p><p>She looked up as she covered her mouth while she coughed to look at her running partner, and, shockingly, he wasn’t running next to her, but many steps behind her, his pace quite slowed down and his face red as a beet. </p><p>“What's wrong?” She asked, stopping on her tracks and panting a little bit.</p><p>“Nothing!” He said, all too fastly, stopping too about four meters behind her.</p><p>“You, you wanna rest?” She asked, panting harder by the second.</p><p>“Sure, yes.” He affirmed right after she finished her question, and she proceeded to step towards the grass and to subsequently fall on her ass on it, laying down in a matter of seconds.</p><p>“Ah, this is nice.” She commented, not moving from her spot for a solid minute until the silence of the park made Hux’s running steps very noticeable. “What are you doing?” She inquired while she raised her head from the ground, searching with her eyes for the redhead.</p><p>“Just warming up a little.” Hux said, although she didn’t really know from <em> where </em> he was telling her that.</p><p>“My ass, what are you doing, Hux?” She asked, returning to laying on the grass, too done to even</p><p>“Just running.” He explained, stiffly.</p><p>“In circles?” She retorted, tilting her head unwittingly at his weird antics.</p><p>“Quite the deduction, Tico.” He muttered, as he ran even faster,</p><p>“Wait for real?” She laid down again, not wanting to push him. “Why?” She shouldn’t care, but for some reason unknown to her, Hux became more intriguing to her by the minute.</p><p>“I just, well…” He ran faster. “My smartwatch is connected to my father’s base of data. He wants me to meet my expected goals, both physically and academically.”</p><p>“So you have, like, a pedometer controlled by your dad?” She got no answer from the redhead, which made her frown. “Oh man that’s kind of kriffing wrong?”</p><p>“On the contraire, it is perfectly understandable. As his only heir I am expected to carry out the Hux name with the pride it deserves.” He explained, sounding once again like a posh brat whose favored activity was talking everybody down. </p><p>“And that is…?” She asked, sitting up, following the other’s running circles with her gaze. He looked at her angrily but her question wasn't ill intended, only curious, a fact that came across to Hux, as he slowed down his pace and pursed his lips together, looking indecisive as in how to answer such a question.</p><p>“A Hux cannot be a weakling.” He stopped running when he muttered that.</p><p>“You are not a weakling.” She said immediately. He turned his face away. “Look, kriff, argh, this stuff you might believe makes you strong? It’s all arbitrary.” He chuckled darkly, and that made it Rose’s turn turn to frown.</p><p>“Stop talking, Tico, you’d never understand it.” He commented as he started to sprint again.</p><p>“Now listen up you snobby piece of pumpkin, I may not be living your life, but you don’t get to decide when I relate to you and when I don’t.” He was apparently surprised at her fiery reaction, stopping on his tracks once again. “When you say you like that noise you call music? I totally can’t relate, really, listen to more Taylor Swift it’ll change your life.” She recommended in a manner that was so filled with rage, it sounded like a warning.</p><p>“Tico if you are making fun of me-” He grew angry, just as Rose grew irritated at his intermission.</p><p>“Ah, ah, ah, who said I was finished? I can’t relate to you insisting on wearing those hideous posh-ass outfits, but you know what? I get the pressure to be as good as your name requires you to be.” Her face was contorted in a mixture of a frown and a dead stare.</p><p>“How could you even get that?” He scoffed once again, starting to run in circles for the third time.</p><p>“Oh I’m sorry Mr. I’m-the-only-human-being-with-problems, don’t you remember who my older sister is? Paige Tico, rings a bell? The best debater that Theed has seen in the last decade? The first to go to college in my family, and to Coruscant's pre-law with a full scholarship no less.” </p><p>“Oh it must be so hard to have a prodigy sister! And even more so when you two come from a family of accomplished lawyers, too.” He said that bitterly and out of breath, but seemed to regret it a second after. Rose didn’t care though, the damage was done.</p><p>“Oh yeah? You’re so right Hux! Because what’s easier to a person than coming to a new city, a new country!, at twenty years of age, not speaking the language and having no money to your name, and still managing to create a kriffing thriving establishment in less than two years?” She’s actually angry, raising her voice by the second, and he grows scared, too. “And what am <em> I </em> doing, being three years younger than my parents then and half a year younger than my sister when she got a full ride in Coruscant? Scheming with <em> you </em> how to separate Rey and Solo!” Hux stopped running once again, seeing how Rose curled into herself whilst she let out a frustrated huff.</p><p>He jogged to where Rose was at, turning in his iPod. He played a soft classical tune on it, laying on the grass at a cautious two meters from the girl. If he had been any other person, Rose would have guessed that he was trying to offer her comfort.</p><p>“What are you doing?” She asked, a little bit teary-eyed. Hux’s demeanour didn’t change at the sound of her voice, his face unreadable.</p><p>“Just relaxing, before we continue running.” He explained neutrally.</p><p>“What?” She asked, spinning her head sharply to look at him in disbelief, her eyes managing to convey her confusion regardless how glassy they were.</p><p>“Running and plotting, of course.” He completed, looking at her moments after speaking, unnervingly calm.</p><p>“What in force’s name, Hux, why aren’t you angry?” She asked, because how could he not be? His anger issues were a topic of gossip in all debate clubs on Theed, yet there he was, unwavering to her previous very loud, very rude and very personal monologue.</p><p>“Tico, listen. Yes, you gave me a sob story, that’s sad, but our lives, albeit miserable, are still the most important things to us.” He looked at her, and when she analyzed his face she still couldn’t place any feeling at all on his delivery.</p><p>“Wow, that sounded selfish.” She commented, looking up to the sky as she shook her head and rolled her eyes at once, berating herself for believing for a second that <em> Armitage Hux </em> had feelings.</p><p>“Is it not true?” Rose didn’t look back at him after he said that, wanting to believe that his eyes looked murderous at her for doubting his judgement so much. That, at last, would have felt familiar to her. Wouldn’t confuse her so.</p><p>“I mean, not really, my life’s just a life, there are more important things in the world, like, I don’t know, world peace?” She tried to follow the string of the conversation, mindlessly sharing one of her strongest beliefs in the nature of existence itself.</p><p>“Would you die for <em> world peace </em>?” He asked, flabbergasted.</p><p>“Yeah.” She answered, not losing a beat.</p><p>“Kriff, I’m stuck plotting with a pacifist.” He joked, or maybe he didn’t? Rose had to look at him then, only to see that he had looked up to the sky too. He had a smirk on his face, though, so it had definitely been a joke.</p><p>“You shut up, egomaniacal and angry gingerbread man.” She teased him back, trying to hate his lack of enthusiasm for world peace, but only managing to find it annoying.</p><p>“What.” He deadpanned.</p><p>“You heard me.” She said, looking up to stare at the clouds once again, smug to have essentially robbed him of being the one smirking out of the two of them.</p><p>“No, what is a gingerbread human? What is a gingerbread?” He genuinely asked, sounding curious, but mostly irritated.</p><p>“You have to be kidding me.” Rose’s smirk grew into an all out grin.</p><p>“I am not.” He deadpanned, again, and Rose had to bite her lip to fight the urge of bursting into a fit of giggles.</p><p>“This is the funniest shit ever, Armitage Hux, the absolute know-it-all from FOI doesn’t know what’s gingerbread.” She said, gesticulating wildly with her arms, thudding lightly at Armitage’s shoulder without meaning to. She was about to mutter out a quick apology when he talked once again.</p><p>“I’m your ride Tico, don’t anger me.” He warned her, and if maybe she had chuckled a bit at that, no one could blame her.</p><p>“Uh scary. Oh no Hux don’t leave me alone in this laughably sheltered park full of the elite of Theed, how dare you?” She teased him, and as she looked at him for a fraction, just to see his reaction, she took in how frustrated he looked at being owned once again by her, Rose Tico.</p><p>“You really should try to bring out this confidence when debating.” He commented in a hushed tone, to which she had to giggle, there was no fighting how comically surreal the morning with Hux was turning out to be.</p><p>“Since when do you care?” She half-heartedly teased, feeling too relaxed by the background music to even put much maliciousness to her question.</p><p>“Tico we’re plotting against two young lovers, we must have each other’s back for now. We’re a team on a mission.” He justified, and although rose wasn’t buying that, there was something in his phrasing that had piqued her attention.</p><p>“What mission?” She asked, an eyebrow raised both at him and at a cloud that vaguely resembled Poe’s motorcycle.</p><p>“The Ultimate Finalizer Mission.” He answered automatically, as if he had prepared for this question before it was even asked.</p><p>“... Please tell me you haven’t given it <em> that </em> name before this conversation.” Rose’s tone could only be described as a strange mix of bewildered and disbelieving.</p><p>“It is a proper name.” he defended, raising his nose and by extent kind of hitting the top of his head against the grass.</p><p>“For kriff’s sake.” She said, unabashedly amused, and she too threw her head back, but ib¡n order to wildly laugh.</p><p>“I haven’t heard any better idea from you.” He pinpointed, irritated, although she could sense something else in his voice, something kin to, maybe, curiosity? She erased such otherworldly notions as soon as they appeared on her mind, rolling her eyes at her naivety.</p><p>“Ok so we have the same goal, right? Getting into the college we want?” Rose turned to look at Hux’s profile as she spoke, and was met with him already looking at her with a blank stare. He nodded. “And we have the same, let’s say, inconvenient infatuation, in our teams. An obstacle. Operation One Obstacle, triple O!” She said, enthusiastically, and Hux scrunched up his nose as if he had smelt something hideous.</p><p>“Too obvious, Ultimate Finalizer sounds poetic, powerful, Operation One Obstacle on the other hand goes straight to the point, it’s too easy to deduce what is the misdeed we want to partake in.” Rose knew he was right on that point, but she was far from giving up and embracing his edgy proposition.</p><p>“We’re not calling it Ultimate Finalizer, it sounds like a metal band.” She declared soundly, staring at him in a way that tried to convey how that opinion was final on her side.</p><p>“And Operation One Obstacle makes it easy for us to be discovered! I prefer metal to being on Solo’s <em> and </em>Andor’s blacklist.” Rose raised an eyebrow at him. “Alright Tico, my only offer, it’s either this or Ultimate Finalizer, I’ll take no bargaining.” Rose had to huff, amused over how he thought he had the last word in their comradeship. “One Shutter, take it or leave it.” Rose looked up to the pale blue sky and she closed her eyes, taking in the rays of sun, feeling a weird tingling all over herself, as if the living force was going through her in a gentle breeze, trying to tell her something.</p><p>“Deal.” She compromised with him, making him stunned.</p><p>“I think I haven’t heard you right Tico, have you just <em> agreed </em> ? With <em> me </em>?” He asked, and once again Rose felt a fluttering laughter come out of her mouth, intensifying the tingly feeling that was overcoming her.</p><p>“Yes, don’t get used to it, we still need to discuss the finer details of next week.” She concluded, eyes still closed.</p><p>“What?” He asked, stunned in a way she didn't know how to place.</p><p>“Stand up!” She ordered cheerfully as she stood up herself in a swift manner.</p><p>“What?” He stood up too, still stunned.</p><p>“Don’t you have to get that step count flowing? Let’s go, leave that music, it’s alright, but no metal or One Shutter will be completed by only one person.” Rose didn't know which person out of the two of them would do it, but she liked how intimidating she had managed to sound.</p><p>“What do you mean, Tico. Tico! Wait! You rebellious scum, stop running! Who are you talking to? Tico if you have plans to share you shouldn’t share it ten meters away from your listener! Vermin stop right there!” Rose could hear him screaming as she ran as fast as she could, feeling high on her agility and Hux’s disbelief. </p><p>She really needed to find a new hobby, because she was seriously having a great time while scheming how to take down a couple for her own interest with the worst of the worst people of Naboo, a sunday morning and while running on her ratty old sport clothes, to boot.</p><p>“Why are you laughing, vermin?” Asked Hux, having catched up with her faster than she expected him to.</p><p>Turning right to see him, she had to admit that, on the bright golden light of Theed’s morning summer sun, Hux’s skin was shimmering and creamy, in contrast to its usual plainly pasty look, and maybe the drop of sweat that ran through his cheeks and landed on his sharp collabornes was a plus, too. And maybe the way his legs flexed while his thin arms moved in a steady rhythm when he ran also made him look not-so-hideous, and why was she so hot all over all of a sudden?</p><p>Her face paled and she stopped laughing in a heartbeat, making Hux smirk, satisfied. “Finally, you learn to respect me, as you should.” Oh no, no matter how grave her hormonal crisis was turning out to be, she couldn’t let that pass, thus she did the first thing that came to her to fix the situation. She slapped his shoulder.</p><p>“Spider!” She screamed, completely making it up but, to her utter shock, Hux’s face sombered up.</p><p>He started to walk over to his car, not running, but not calm either. Not calm at all.</p><p>Rose grew concerned at how eerily quiet he was being, thus she followed him.</p><p>“Hux? Hux, what’s wrong? Hux whatever I’ve done I’m sorry, seriously.” She tried to convince herself of it being just a rudimentary apology, but she really wanted him to explain what had just happened, why his face had turned stony like that of a statue of a long-tormented immortal.</p><p>“If you need to contact me write to the remittent of your letter. Regards, Tico.” He said, unfeeling, which only made the situation worse. She tried to go as fast as he did, but he quickened his pace.</p><p>“Hux, please, just tell me what’s wrong, because it’s obvious I’ve done something wrong and whatever it is, I’m sorry.” She tried to apologize again, to no avail, not even getting to see what his expression was, as he entered his car in one quick motion.</p><p>“Whenever I get my phone back you'll know at five PM sharp that evening.” He said, and for a second she could finally see his profile. He looked tormented.</p><p>“Hux!” He shut the car door and turned on the car immediately, closing all the doors.</p><p>That was when Rose realized that she must have fuckep up badly, because Hux had given her a ride even when she hadn’t been on his team. And, as she got away from the car, she recalled how much hurt his face had conveyed sadness and hurt after, after the slap? She asked herself why that was, but she honestly didn’t think that a light smack could affect a person as aggressive as Hux.</p><p>Many questions were circling her brain, all about what had just happened, and all were left unanswered when she realized that she had to find a way to get back home without Armitage’s ride.</p><p>She opened Theed’s public transportation website, and was glad to find that if she took the 3450 bus on the park's entrance, a mere five minutes from where she stood, she could hop on the 17th line at the Cascade Virdugo stop, and all in all she’s be home in less than an hour, which she considered a total win.</p><p>She checked on google maps the next bus to the Virdugo direction, and luckily she could be on time for the 1130 one, which gave her a great margin of time to get on her usual train route. She’d be damned if she didn’t message Hux while she did so, though. Or at least if she didn’t draft a letter to him on her notes.</p><p>When on the bus she did just that, sitting next to an old lady who appeared to be quite nosy of her actions. When she got off in Cascade Virdugo she decided to not open her notes ever again while commuting, and as she descended into the underground she plugged in her old headphones, ready to listen to Hozier and mop the whole ride back home.</p><p>When she finally arrived at her stop, she saw with horror that her phone was about to run out of battery, so she sprinted one last time in that tortuous day towards her home.</p><p>She was greeted with her father’s gleeful “<em>Chào con gái.</em>” and her mother’s usual “Hi, Rose!”, which comforted her a tad after such a weird day.</p><p>She greeted them back, rushing into their house and upstairs to her bedroom, to charge her agonizing phone. Right ater sh plugged it in she activated her wi-fi, getting an influx of texts that left her a little bit speechless. It seemed that Zorii and Jannah had decided to spam their group chat with how much they missed her and with a thousand photos of their breakfast while she was in the subway, and she had to smile at how cute they were.</p><p>There was one last text, sent on Jannah’s phone, but clearly written by Zorii, in which they wished her the best of luck with her English notes. </p><p>Oh, English. English and her slim chance for an A in that terrible class.</p><p>She sent them a couple of texts filled with hearts and sparkles, and a final text telling them how much she missed them and adored them, and subsequently she turned off her phone, sat straight and pulled out her laptop, opening her digital English textbook and groaning. </p><p><em> Force, did this book’s illustrator have to make Benedick a redhead? </em>, she asked herself, deciding to skip over Shakespearean literature, not for the first time, favoring the task of starting making notes on the Brontë sisters.</p><p>After an hour of English she rewarded herself with some physics exercises, and she did so before and after lunch. By dinner she felt less worried about lowering her grade on the godforsaken subject, but also positively burnt out. When she passed out on her family couch as she watched <em> Pride and Prejudice </em> for the tenth time —for academic reasons, she told herself—, her mother and father let her, laying a thin blanket over her.</p><p>It’s not until the next morning that she notices that her backpack is in Hux's car. <em> Kriff</em>, she swore, that word repeating itself on her head like a mantra as she rapidly brushes her hair with one hand and applies the bare minimum of concealer with the other, managing not to look like a rabid raccoon. Given the situation, she counts that as an accomplishment.</p><p>She had planned on wearing something cute to class that day, maybe that way she could even recreate some of the pictures Zorii was planning to take on the previous day, but out of the sheer panic she was currently feeling she threw herself into a pale yellow overall and a half-assed ponytail.</p><p><em> Kriff, I don’t have my backpack and I look like a plumber, kriff!</em>, she continued to freak out as she put her laptop on its case, pondering if it would be unsafe to bring her most precious belonging out of the safety of her backpack. Her brain said yes, her heart said no, and her stomach ached because of the stress. </p><p>She really needed to have a <em> bánh tai heom </em> and a cup of caf.</p><p>Somebody rang her house’s bell, but Rose was too stressed out to even notice, it wasn’t until her father screamed “<em>Mít, ai đó đang ở đây cho bạn!</em>”, from the entrance of their restaurant.</p><p>She rushed down the stairs, greeted with the more than awkward image of her father examining none other than Armitage Hux, who looked redder than his hair as Hue Tico and him stood in an uncomfortable silence.</p><p>“Hux!” Rose exclaimed, stunned by how bizarre it was to see the other teen inside of her family’s restaurant. Still, it got even weirder.</p><p>“Armitage here has your backpack, <em> Mít</em>! He was telling me that he was giving you classes on physics?” She almost combsted, finally noticing her backpack by Hux’s feet. “Not sure if you're not the one giving him classes though, <em> Mít thông minh nhỏ của tôi.</em>” He commented, his eyes twinkling at how she, too, blushed at his comment.</p><p>“<em> Ba, </em>don’t say that, ugh, I, well, I…” She stumbled over her words, trying to find a way to tell her father about how she was most not definitely not Armitage kriffing Hux’s students on the one subject she excelled in. “Thank you for the backpack!” She said, rushing down to take it, almost headbutting Hux’s knees in the process.</p><p>“It’s no bother.” He said, sounding just as strained as she felt.</p><p>A couple of moments passed before someone spoke again, and to Rose’s absolute horror, it was her father, again. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Armitage Hux, finally!” He winked at his daughter, looking satisfied with himself. Rose mouthed ‘finally?’ at him, feeling way too many things before eight, but her father had already left to the back of the restaurant.</p><p>“I am so sorry.” Rose started to speak as soon as her father left the room, visibly stunning Hux with her apology. “For everything I did yesterday and for my father. Oh Force! My father! I’m so sorry for whatever he said, it’s just, well, ugh, he does this with all my friends and I, oh kriff, I am so sorry for whatever awkward thing he’s asked you-”, she was starting to ramble, not able to hold in all the thoughts that were racing through her mind.</p><p>“It’s alright, Tico. He was… Pleasant.” He told her, dragging out the pause before the last word, clearly pondering how to describe her father. That sobered her up a bit, making her less shaky.</p><p>“Pleasant. Huh. Never heard that one when describing him.” She commented, holding her backpack to her chest as she studied what he tried to mean with that word.</p><p>“It’s not a negative word.” He elaborated, ever the most priggish of debaters, and at that she had to roll her eyes.</p><p>“It certainly isn’t.” She said, blandly, immediately regretting opening her mouth at all. If he had been pedantic, she had been straight-up unnecessary. She wanted for the floor to shallow her on that very instant, but she had no such luck.</p><p>“Your apologies are accepted.” He said, sounding like some sort of robotic assistant, and the ridiculousness of it almost made her miss the important detail of referring to her apologies in plural. </p><p>She could not help to smile at that, and surely a rush of cold air entered the establishment, for Hux started to redden up again.</p><p>“Are you in a hurry, Hux?” She asked, not really sure about how she could word her question. </p><p>“I am not. Why?” He asked, not as wary as she had expected him to be.</p><p>“I just, well, I’m going to sound like such an asshole because I just asked you for forgiveness and now I’m going to ask you for a favor, and…”, she started to ramble once again, more out of nervousness than out of pure stress, like before, but Hux interrupted once again.</p><p>“What favour are you talking about, vermin?” And there it was, the bratty and rude Hux she had seen since that first freshman year debate competition.</p><p>“It’s just, well, I don’t like going on Poe’s moto to school. It’s an adrenaline rush, that’s for sure, but it’s twenty minutes of Finn this and Finn that and I think I'm going mad so, ehm, can you, ehm, er, maybe, perhaps, if it’s not a bother, could you, eh, give me a lift?” He was silent for a second, his face expressionless, and then, to her utmost surprise, he nodded. “Thank you!” She said, feeling a weird urge to hug him. She almost gagged at that stray thought.</p><p>“You’re welcome, as long as we review all of our intended plans this week on the ride, the co-pilot seat is yours.” She didn’t feel disappointed, not at all, because of course he would only do that for One Shutter’s sake, it only made sense. She should have expected that.</p><p>“Thanks!” She tried to sound as cheerful as she could manage after her rollercoaster of a morning. “Now come in, if you want to, I’m sure we can heat up some pho for you, or something.” She told him, pointing to the back of the restaurant.</p><p>“No.” He said right after she stopped speaking.</p><p>“No?” She questioned him, wondering whether it was because he never wanted to see her father ever again or because he detested her cozy family restaurant. </p><p>“No.” He answered again, not wanting to elaborate, to which Rose resolved to just call him a prick in the privacy of her mind.</p><p>“Ok then…” She remembered that not only she had to pack up her backpack, but also she had to have breakfast, which gave her an idea. “I’ll be right back! Wait for me inside of the car, please, the morning’s too cold.” She’d make him eat his refusal of the Tico’s pho, quite literally.</p><p>“Hardly.” He scoffed, and Rose turned around, not wanting to waste another second of her life in their lifeless conversation.</p><p>“Whatever, gingerbread man.” She said as she slid to the back of the restaurant.</p><p>“I still don’t know what’s that, Tico.” He told her, slightly mad, but mostly just confused.</p><p>“Be right back!” She answered him in the most unhelpful way possible, just for the sake of it, as she opened the door of the back of the restaurant.</p><p>“Could you just define gingerbread? It mustn't be that hard.” He muttered that last part for himself, for Rose had already left.</p><p>Hux stood there for a couple of seconds. His expression finally relaxed, showing how utterly baffled he was. He looked around the restaurant one last time before getting back into his car, wondering, not for the first or last time, what kind of personal torture had his life come to be.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>so guess who is close to dying after starting uni,,,, this ho.</p><p>anyways here's the translations:<br/>Chào con gái.--&gt;Hello, my daughter.<br/>Mít, ai đó đang ở đây cho bạn!--&gt;Mít, someone is here for you!<br/>Mít thông minh nhỏ của tôi--&gt;my little smart Mít</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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